Support NeoGAF

[suzu]

I really liked Suikoden 3's characters and story, but mehhh on everything else.

 

[VitalNerve]

I have regrettably never played any suikoden game. I would like to purchase some from the series but have no idea which are the best ones. I will pick up 2 when I find a copy that is not $100+. Anyway, which should games should I focus on first?

 

[Just take it with you.]

I bought the original on a whim. Thought the box art was horrible but I picked it up anyways. Edit- Maybe I thought it was awesome at the time actually in a weird fantasy sort of way.

Man, best random pick up ever.

Ha, here's a pic:
terribleness

You know, it just occurred to me that "Barbarossa" there looks like the lovechild of Lemmy and Fu Manchu.

Glittering Blade

That's the one I was thinking about.

 

[Hours Left]

I have regrettably never played any suikoden game. I would like to purchase some from the series but have no idea which are the best ones. I will pick up 2 when I find a copy that is not $100+. Anyway, which should games should I focus on first?

The first one is on PSN for 6 bucks. The perfect starting point.

 

[Meccanical]

I wish the second one was on PSN too, but alas.

 

[Manmademan]

Suikoden 2 was absolutely incredible for me. Got 3 and splat, crap in my face. I'm your backup against Aeana, Dark Schala. The game looks so bad and performs so poorly that it was just too distracting. The S2 sprites are stunning.

calling 3 crap is excessive. it had it's moments and is a charming game...it just doesn't live up to 2. V is a better indicator of the direction they should have gone for the first ps2 outing

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

All this SIII talk and no Exceeding Love love?

 

[Manmademan]

The first one is on PSN for 6 bucks. The perfect starting point.

disagree. Suikoden V is a better game, and since none of those games really have much to do with each other it doesn't matter which one you start with...especially since the games don't occur in chronological order.

 

[Dark Schala]

To the person asking, GS1 or GS5 if you can't get your hands on GS2. I get very hesitant to recommend GS1 because a lot of people don't mesh well with it given its age (ex: limited inventory, short length, etc.), but it plays well, so it doesn't hurt to try it out. People tend to react more favourably to GS5 despite it taking very long to start up.

All this SIII talk and no Exceeding Love love?

I love this theme so much. But the OP animation helps to make it.

We should give La Mer and Wind of Phantom love.

Oh, and some love to my favourite piece in all of Suikoden: Rune of Punishment.

 

[Hours Left]

disagree. Suikoden V is a better game, and since none of those games really have much to do with each other it doesn't matter which one you start with...especially since the games don't occur in chronological order.

I disagree. The best place to start playing such a story driven series is at the beginning.

One of the main draws of the series is how connected the main games are. Each game can be enjoyed individually, for sure, but IMO they are much better when experienced together, in the intended order.

 

[iidesuyo]

I love the Suikoden series so much.

Hopefully they will release Suikoden III over here in Europe at some point...

disagree. Suikoden V is a better game, and since none of those games really have much to do with each other it doesn't matter which one you start with...especially since the games don't occur in chronological order.

Suikoden V has a very slow start. I think Suikoden I is the way to go.

 

[VitalNerve]

The first one is on PSN for 6 bucks. The perfect starting point.

Thank you for the reply, I will def check that one out first. especially for 6$.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

To the person asking, GS1 or GS5 if you can't get your hands on GS2. I get very hesitant to recommend GS1 because a lot of people don't mesh well with it given its age (ex: limited inventory, short length, etc.), but it plays well, so it doesn't hurt to try it out. People tend to react more favourably to GS5 despite it taking very long to start up.


I love this theme so much. But the OP animation helps to make it.

We should give La Mer and Wind of Phantom love.

Oh, and some love to my favourite piece in all of Suikoden: Rune of Punishment.

Forgotten Days here. The adventure, loss, sense of time and being out of time can be cut with a knife.

I disagree. The best place to start playing such a story driven series is at the beginning.

One of the main draws of the series is how connected the main games are. Each game can be enjoyed individually, for sure, but IMO they are much better when experienced together, in the intended order.

You can jump in anywhere, really. Going 3 -> 2 -> 1 might be crazy, though.

 

[rouken]

Suikoden 3 is awesome and I will fight you if you disagree with me.

Just saying.

what? if anything its the second worst entry in the series.

ranking time 2>>>>>1>5>>>>>>>3>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>4

 

[BassForever]

I loved Suikoden 1-3, played like an hour of 4 but was really disappointed in it due to how meh the gameplay felt and how slow the boat was. Should I skip 4 and just play 5 which I also have? I don't plan to play tactics until I finish 4 due to save transfer.

Also my rankings

2 = 3 > 1 > 5 > 4

Yeah I'm putting 5 above 4 and I haven't even played it yet, can't say if I think 2 or 3 was the better game, both were fantastic.

 

[mattiewheels]

I really love III's storytelling, and the deliberate mood.

So who's going to be the first to defend IV?

 

[Aeana]

what? if anything its the second worst entry in the series.

ranking time 2>>>>>1>5>>>>>>>3>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>4

My ranking is similar, 3 is second-to-last, but that doesn't mean it isn't awesome. 4 is the only one that isn't awesome.

I really love III's storytelling, and the deliberate mood of the scenes.

So who's going to be the first to defend IV?

Probably Schala!

 

[Hours Left]

I loved Suikoden 1-3, played like an hour of 4 but was really disappointed in it due to how meh the gameplay felt and how slow the boat was. Should I skip 4 and just play 5 which I also have? I don't plan to play tactics until I finish 4 due to save transfer.

Also my rankings

2 = 3 > 1 > 5 > 4

Yeah I'm putting 5 above 4 and I haven't even played it yet, can't say if I think 2 or 3 was the better game, both were fantastic.

You know you can speed up the boat by holding R1, right? Makes sailing a lot easier. IV isn't very long either, and playing Tactics afterwards will make the experience for both games a lot better. (And I personally don't dislike IV, it's just very mediocre, especially when compared to the other mainline entries.)

V is amazing, it's definitely a high point of the series. But if you are playing through the whole series for the story, then I think it's worth it to finish IV and Tactics first.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

When I can get it for a reasonable price, I will try out 2.

 

[BassForever]

You know you can speed up the boat by holding R1, right? Makes sailing a lot easier. IV isn't very long either, and playing Tactics afterwards will make the experience for both games a lot better. (And I personally don't dislike IV, it's just very mediocre, especially when compared to the other mainline entries.)

V is amazing, it's definitely a high point of the series. But if you are playing through the whole series for the story, then I think it's worth it to finish IV and Tactics first.

Yeah I did, was still slow and boring. If anything playing Suikoden 4 has made me appreciate Zelda Wind Waker more because by comparison.

 

[rouken]

My ranking is similar, 3 is second-to-last, but that doesn't mean it isn't awesome. 4 is the only one that isn't awesome.

well, i could agree with that. 4 is the only one i didn't finish. everything about it was a mess.

When I can get it for a reasonable price, I will try out 2.

try looking in bargain bins of your local game store. that's the only way to get it cheap.

 

[Galamauth]

oh neat I finally belong in a community.

Weighing in on Suikoden 3; it's a great ending to the series. While it was never the ending to the world(and parallel worlds.....) with more adventure to be had in the sequels I always felt Murayama cinched it with the revelations found in Suikoden 3.

It has a handful of good compositions but they are butchered by the quality. Arranges are great but it is definitely in 3rd place for the original trilogy. S4 has better music imo.

That said I'd recommend the graphic novel version of S3 over the actual game, it's a really faithful translation of the game w/ more fan service for the first two games and it's just very well drawn. Even came localized with the extra colored pages! I was impressed with it anyway.

 

[Hours Left]

Yeah I did, was still slow and boring. If anything playing Suikoden 4 has made me appreciate Zelda Wind Waker more because by comparison.

Well, Viki does appear. Things go a lot smoother then.

 

[Dark Schala]

Probably Schala!

I've probably already done it somewhere on GAF. I don't think it's a horrible game. It has issues with regards to the pacing, the narrative, the colour/vibrancy of the game, how little politics seemed to matter in the long run, and how slow it is to get around, but it's not gosh darn terrible in that I didn't want to play it. I liked the minigames in the game, I liked the soundtrack, and I kinda liked making up several parties up for fighting. Regardless of the fact that the Rune of Punishment was a retread of the Soul Eater, I feel as though it was a nice change of pace in terms of how the rune affects the user--you're not just feeling it in the narrative, but you're feeling it in battle. Thus you need to learn how to ration your use of it, even if it's powerful to use. Rhapsodia is the better game out of the two taking place in that era, though.

3 & 4 are at the lower end of the canon games for me, but I'd probably put 4 a smidge over 3.

Edit: Let me explain that. I'd put 4 over 3 in terms of battle gameplay, soundtrack, and extra content. I'd put 3 over 4 in terms of narrative elements and characterization.

Forgotten Days here. The adventure, loss, sense of time and being out of time can be cut with a knife.

The Celtic version of that BGM is excellent too. Definitely one of my favourite videogame BGMs ever.

 

[Manmademan]

I really love III's storytelling, and the deliberate mood.

So who's going to be the first to defend IV?

I don't see that happening, honestly.

personally I feel 2 is the best, hands down. unfortunately it's nigh impossible to get one's hands on in the west without spending a mint, so you can't really suggest someone new to the series start there.

4 was a weak title, and 3 is a good game but so different from the rest of the series (with the changes to combat and trinity sight system) that it doesn't make sense to tell someone to start there either. it's not representative of the rest of the games at all.

that leaves 1 or 5. I consider them both good games, but 5 is much more polished and took some cues from 2 (like the duel battles) that I really loved. I wouldn't recommend starting with 1 unless the person asking REALLY had a thing for old school snes era rpgs...and not everyone does.

you really can't use "but the storyline!" as a justification to play them all in order since there aren't story based links between the titles (with the exception of mcdohl in 2 as a bonus) only a few obscure references. IV and V take place about 150 years before suikoden 1 anyway- chronologically, the events in those games take place first. On top of that 2 is out of most peoples price range and 4 is trash, so a release date play through isn't feasible anyway- unless you'd reccommend suffering through 4 before getting to 5, and i can't see why anyone would suggest this.

play the best available (5) and move onto the older, less polished titles if it hooks you.

 

[inner-G]

Just grabbed a complete, really nice copy of V at a local store for $24.xx. Pretty excited, never tried this one before.

 

[TheExodu5]

I've only beaten the first game. I've gotten quite far in 2, 3, and 5. Sadly my saves are lost and I'd be pretty lost in their respective stories as well so I really need to get back to them.

I loved 2 in every way possible.

3 felt very slow paced, especially with Hugo's story, but the overall plot was incredibly engaging. I recall the end of Hugo and Chris's first chapters really had me going.

5 was pretty solid from what I've played. Can't say I'm looking forward to replaying those first 8 hours though.

 

[Aeana]

3 & 4 are at the lower end of the canon games for me, but I'd probably put 4 a smidge over 3.

Edit: Let me explain that. I'd put 4 over 3 in terms of battle gameplay, soundtrack, and extra content. I'd put 3 over 4 in terms of narrative elements and characterization.

See, this is why we have to rumble.

 

[Manmademan]

Just grabbed a complete, really nice copy of V at a local store for $24.xx. Pretty excited, never tried this one before.

As i mentioned above, it's really solid and a shame most people wrote off suikoden after 3 changed so much about the series and 4 was just bad. I don't remember the slow start, but it's been maybe 6 years (?) since I've played it. It's one of the few RPGs (and it's long!) that i bothered to play through more than once, so it must have had something going for it.

 

[Dark Schala]

See, this is why we have to rumble.

Taking off my earrings, let's do this.

I'm sticking by my opinion no matter what.

 

[BassForever]

How on earth can you like S4's gameplay over S3's? Actually outside of maybe music (arguably) I dunno how you say anything about S4 is better.

 

[Manmademan]

How on earth can you like S4's gameplay over S3's? Actually outside of maybe music (arguably) I dunno how you say anything about S4 is better.

S3's battles were much slower paced and probably the worst in the series. I'll give that much to S4- at least they made an attempt to go back to what worked in 1 and 2.

The ludicrous encounter rate in S4 does not help the argument for that game though.

 

[Hours Left]

Suikoden IV's naval battles give it the slight edge over III in the combat department (better mini-games too), but that's about it.

But beyond that, III > IV.

 

[Meccanical]

My only experience with Suikoden III is the demo from Official Playstation Magazine(Man, remember demo discs? Those were the shit.)


I remember it being really damn boring,however, RPGs aren't the easiest thing to demo.

 

[BassForever]

Suikoden IV's naval battles give it the slight edge over III in the combat department (better mini-games too), but that's about it.

But beyond that, III > IV.

To be fair I never got to a naval battle in S4, but for main combat S4 was really bare bones especially compared to S3's 6 person partner system.

 

[Hours Left]

To be fair I never got to a naval battle in S4, but for main combat S4 was really bare bones especially compared to S3's 6 person partner system.

The partnering system is what I dislike the most about III. Beyond the mount systems, I hated only being able to choose three actions. (The skill system in III was great though.)

IV was barebones, but at least you got to control your whole party. And the naval battles are so much more enjoyable than III's "war" battles, which were just a series of small scale fights.

 

[Aeana]

Suikoden IV's naval battles give it the slight edge over III in the combat department (better mini-games too), but that's about it.

But beyond that, III > IV.

As far as war battles in the series go, I prefer 3's because it lets me use my actual characters instead of some other system that doesn't even take their power into account.

 

[suzu]

Overall:

2 > 1 > 5 > 3 >>>> 4

And Tierkreis was all right.

 

[Edgeward]

II's big battle is still my favorite. Just a traditional, yet simple strategy game. Easy to see how having more party members increase your chances to win and made you plan things out like a strategist would. Plus, it really illustrated how Shu's plans would work. Only thing I didn't like was the random chance of attacks. Yuber's numbers are lying, they are even more in his favor than it says.

 

[BassForever]

As far as war battles in the series go, I prefer 3's because it lets me use my actual characters instead of some other system that doesn't even take their power into account.

This, sadly there are only a few battles in the game that let you use only your party, most of them you have tons of genrics running around. S3's battles were more about strategy of moving everyone around and attacking/defending at the right time.

And I really don't understand the hate for the partner system, it added a lot of needed depth to the Suikoden main battle system. Honestly while I love S1 and S2 neither of them required any real depth in combat, just spam your most powerful attacks/skills and occasionally use spells or items to heal. That and the awesome skill system really helped to make more characters feel unique in combat.

 

[Shouta]

3 stinks.

 

[Hours Left]

This, sadly there are only a few battles in the game that let you use only your party, most of them you have tons of genrics running around. S3's battles were more about strategy of moving everyone around and attacking/defending at the right time.

And I really don't understand the hate for the partner system, it added a lot of needed depth to the Suikoden main battle system. Honestly while I love S1 and S2 neither of them required any real depth in combat, just spam your most powerful attacks/skills and occasionally use spells or items to heal. That and the awesome skill system really helped to make more characters feel unique in combat.

I like the quickness of Suikoden I & II's battles though, III just dragged along.

I think V is the perfect balance of the various systems. The skills and formations added the more strategic elements, but the quick battles still remained.

Great war battles too.

 

[Meccanical]

3 stinks.

 

[iidesuyo]

When I can get it for a reasonable price, I will try out 2.

I don't get this attitude... I mean, what's the problem? Buy it, play it, sell it.

You will have played one of the greatest games ever without a loss, it's not like the price will go down within a month.

 

[kswiston]

As far as war battles in the series go, I prefer 3's because it lets me use my actual characters instead of some other system that doesn't even take their power into account.

Ya, 3 had the best war minigame. The original Rock-Paper-Scissor stuff was alright, if not shallow. I hated the RTS minigame in 5 though.

I like the quickness of Suikoden I & II's battles though, III just dragged along.

I think V is the perfect balance of the various systems. The skills and formations added the more strategic elements, but the quick battles still remained.

Great war battles too.

My only problem with V other than the RTS mini game was the fact that the game made me spend about 5 of my 60 hours watching loading screens.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

One thing I will fight for in S3 is how well the villians were humanized in it; a rare feat.

Well, except Yuber. Cuz he's buttfuck evil.

 

[Trigger]

I love this series.

 

[R_thanatos]

Suikoden 3 is awesome and I will fight you if you disagree with me.

Just saying.

Suikoden 3 suffer from a poor battle system ( a big no in rpgs ) and weak army battles.

therefore , it's a good game not awesome ..

Also , weird difficulty spikes everywhere !

Ya, 3 had the best war minigame. The original Rock-Paper-Scissor stuff was alright, if not shallow. I hated the RTS minigame in 5 though.

My only problem with V other than the RTS mini game was the fact that the game made me spend about 5 of my 60 hours watching loading screens.

That RTS mini game was so fun to use ..i strongly disagree

Also i have to agree that the loading times are Suiko 5 main problem ... but as a game only it's not a problem ( considering that you can play without them now)

 

[Aeana]

Suikoden 3 suffer from a poor battle system ( a big no in rpgs ) and weak army battles.

therefore , it's a good game not awesome ..

I don't agree with either of those things, though.

 

[BassForever]

One thing I will fight for in S3 is how well the villians were humanized in it; a rare feat.

Well, except Yuber. Cuz he's buttfuck evil.

It probably didn't hurt that

Spoiler

Luc was a former party member in both games