Suikoden Complete Series Retrospective

foreign 1995 when the Sony PlayStation was in its infancy fans of console role-playing games waited patiently for Final Fantasy VII which wouldn't be released in North America until late 1997. in the meantime RPG fans needed something to fill the void unfortunately the early days of the PlayStation offered very little when it came to games like Final Fantasy 6 Chrono Trigger or Breath of Fire 2 which won over many fans and created a whole new following of RPG enthusiasts fans of these games are practically aching for a new RPG thankfully Konami came through in 1995 by releasing suicodin which offered exactly what these fans were looking for it's complex story awesome characters fun combat and interesting strategic battles suicodin has become a surprise fixture in the RPG Universe when it came to North America in 1996 RPG fans now had something amazing to consume their time sweet Conan Series has gone on to produce multiple sequels in the devoted cult following of fans many of whom discovered the game back in 1996. ever since then the game's fans cannot stop replaying And discussing it and some have even concluded that the game was even better than Final Fantasy VII the game they are actually waiting for at the time as a teenager I remember pouring time into sweetcode long into the night and I believe to this day that the game was truly something special suikoden was created by yashataka morayama who was an extremely young game designer who had only finished his studies in 1992 however he showed promise early in his career and was hand-picked by his supervisors to create his own script for an RPG along with game designer junko kawano he created a prototype for the script that would eventually become the game suikoden 2 but the internal console that the game was initially planned to be on was scrapped after Konami had committed instead to developing games for Sony's upcoming console the PlayStation moriyama began to work on a prequel to his original story deciding for the time being that the original was too ambitious and complex one of the key decisions moriyama made early in suikoden's development was a commitment to traditional 2D Sprite Graphics rather than 3D because because the PlayStation's early 3D polygon tests had left muriyama unimpressed he decided that the 2D route would be best in hindsight I think this decision was a good one suicon's Graphics have held up pretty well through time whereas the graphics of some of the 3D RPGs for PlayStation haven't stood the test of time as well the Chinese classic novel shui hu Jun most often translated to water margin or Outlaws of the marsh was a major influence on the game from the 108 stars of Destiny to the formation of a rebellion the novel undoubtedly inspired many aspects of suikoden the novel is considered one of the four Great classical novels of Chinese literature and its source material was a brilliant foundation for an RPG so he couldn't even takes its name from the Japanese pronunciation of the characters that make up the name of the novel begin the game as tear McDowell son of the famous General Teo McDowell of the Scarlet Moon Empire and the two live in the capital city of gregminster as one of the emperor barbarossa's most trusted advisors Teo serves the Empire with extreme loyalty at the beginning of the game General Teo introduces tear to the emperor Emperor Barbarossa has recently come under the influence of windy a mysterious sorceress who Bears a likeness to the emperor's late wife many within the kingdom have grown concerned over their relationship and have noticed some changes in the emperor's temperament Teo is sent away from gregminster on military duty leaving tear to the care of his most trusted servants gremio Pon and Cleo and also tears best friend Ted tier and his friends are told to go meet leknot at magician's aisle to receive astral conclusions for the Empire as he does so leknot tells tear that he will eventually have to make painful decisions when tyr and his friends are called to assist the Empire to confront the city of Rockland over unpaid taxes they learn that a group of Bandits have stolen the money as they search for the bandits just as the team is almost overcome by a powerful monster Ted reveals that he holds a powerful Rune and destroys the Beast with it however Conan a servant of the Empire takes notice of this as the team finds and defeats the bandits they return to gregminster where Ted is asked to stay behind while tyr and His friends return home later Ted stumbles home with a magical wound it is discovered that Ted was pursued and confronted by Windy who wishes to take his soul leader roon from him turns out that the Soul Eater is one of the 27 true ruins unique mystical objects with ties to the universe that possess unparalleled power Ted entrust the Soul Eater to tear passing it to his young friend before Greg minster's Imperial Guard comes to seize him from that point forward tyr is forced to make difficult decisions that test his commitment to gregminster and his father along his Adventure he meets many friends makes several enemies and eventually becomes the head of the Liberation Army a group of rebels committed to the overthrow of the very Empire tyr's father is a part of of all the aspects of the game the way combat is presented in suikoden is one of the best systems I have ever come across parties in suikoden are comprised of six characters and each character has either a short range medium range or long-range weapon this affects whether they can attack from the front or back row for each round of combat the player provides inputs for each character's turn and then both the party and the enemies act out until the next round combat strategy especially for bosses lies an understanding speed and the Order of character turns once the player properly grasps this he's able to know which character should heal in certain circumstances and which should attack magic and suikoden takes the form of runes objects that can be attached to characters in your party runes allow for powerful attacks such as those that instantly kill an enemy or damage all enemies on the screen at the same time however these attacks have limited charges and you can't continue to use Rune attacks forever each character's magic stat determines the number of spell uses some characters won't even get their fourth spell of a rune because their magic rating is too low you can only attach one Rune to each character and some runes allow for special attacks rather than magical spells when several characters use a rune attack in the same round of combat there are even special Rune combinations that combine to produce a more powerful multi-roon effect I thought this added a nice touch to the game because you barely ever see this in other RPGs probably the most unique command to use in battle is unite where several predefined character combinations can combine their attacks into a special attack that does additional damage strikes all enemies or produces other effects for instance the hero and Kai can combine their strength for a master pupil attack which hits all enemies with double damage the unite system is a fun way to incentivize the player to use specific character combinations suicodin also features several storyline clashes between armies where the Liberation Army is forced to defeat armies of the empire these battles you have three options charge bow and Magic your success at inflecting casualties with each round depends on your move versus the enemy's move strategists thieves ninjas and Merchants can also be used to boost the power of your own forces learn the enemy's next move or convince enemies to defect to your own Army most significantly there is a chance that a bad choice on the part of the player can wipe out large portions of your army and even kill Allied party members permanently even though these battles mostly come down to a game of rock paper and scissors they are extremely fun add variety and provide a great touch for the story if the Strategic battles weren't enough the game also features several occasions in which one-on-one combat occurs between a protagonist and antagonist in these battles the attack defend and desperate attack commands mostly replicates another paper rock scissors affair by listening to how the enemy responds to each round the player can usually determine his next move these special duels provided a great way to develop the characters and make the conflict into a more personal affair when it comes to Graphics the game is a slight step above the best looking SNES RPGs however I found that the relatively simplistic Graphics are executed incredibly well the Sprite animations are fantastic and the game delivers interesting graphical spell effects and vibrant colors the Overworld and background Graphics are pretty basic but the zooming and turning camera movements in battle make you feel more engaged nothing will blow you away here but the game really wasn't trying to be flashy in the first place the music in suikoden is definitely one of the game's best aspects as well in fact I think this score is one of the best RPG scores ever especially for a non-square Enix game 's upbeat Melodies infectious harmonies and memorable tracks will certainly Captivate players that expect a great score of music to accompany their experience because the game's story encompasses many different themes and moods there's a big contrast between the more optimistic tracks and the darker ones I thought this dichotomy was used extremely effectively and it leads the player to experience the emotions of the game in the way the developers intended the music used during the opening title video is just awesome and it sets the stage for the entire game other tracks I really loved included Island Fortress Rock Rockland and beautiful golden City but there's just a lot to love about this soundtrack in general offers yet another exclusive that most RPGs don't the ability to build your own castle at one point in the story you defeat a dragon living in a fortress at which point it becomes your own the castle grows and develops as you recruit the 108 stars of Destiny at Max it reaches four floors as you recruit certain characters it unlocks new shops and areas as well this was a fun Avenue the game offered that keeps the player invested weapons in suicodin are not bought or found they are upgraded by spending money at a blacksmith by the end of the game they become extremely powerful but they cost a lot of bits to upgrade I think I can speak for many of swicodin's fans when I say that the story is simply the best part of the game on the surface the game seems full of RPG cliches such as the formation of a rebellion to confront an Empire however there's also lots of twists and turns that left me shocked when I first played through this game a few of the moments in the game will also tug at your heartstrings as well now on to my criticisms Inventory management in suikoden is a real pain this is because each character only has nine slots for items which makes it necessary to constantly pass items between characters and sell old ones when an item is picked up in the game it always goes to the first character available with an open item slot unfortunately this adds even more time to your menu navigation another qualm I have is that the main story of the game is just too short a typical playthrough lasts only about 20 hours but the game does offer quite a bit of different side content to offset this namely the ability to recruit all 108 total characters the 108 stars of Destiny there's a mandatory dice minigame at one part of the game that most fans seem to like but I thought it just stalled the story a little bit overall though a suicide improves that there's a lot more to love than there is to criticize foreign game to North America it was met with great acclaim to fans of console RPGs and began a new franchise Konami Then followed suit with a sequel suicodin 2 in 1999 like the first game suica than 2 was the Masterwork of yoshitako morayama who had already concocted many of the game's premises prior to the original suicide's development this was because the original script of suicidin 2 was first written for a Konami internal console that was eventually canned when the company decided to publish games for the Sony PlayStation moriyama decided that the original script would be too difficult to pull off without first creating a less complex story first so a few years later he dusted off the original script for suicodin 2. the events of suicide and 2 pick up three years after the events of the original game the main protagonist Ryu and his friend Joey are members of the Highland Army's youth Brigade camp rumors seem to indicate that a bloody conflict between the Highland Kingdom and the city-states of joustan is about to come to an end as a result the soldiers in the camp are in a jubilant mood as they believe that they will soon return Hall Ryu and Joey suddenly wake up in the middle of the night to the sounds of battle and cries of Anguish discovering that their Camp has been set on fire they escape into the mountains but decide to report to roud their Commander when they go back and do so they see roud meeting with Prince Luca blight where they come to a horrific realization salt on the camp was a false flag attack set by Luca blight who intends to subdue joustin under his rule by continuing the war Joey confronts Raul but is stopped by Ryu and the two are able to escape to the cliffs behind Camp before jumping into the Rapids below they make a promise to each other to return to Iraq there to unite once the conflict is over Ryu is discovered by Victor and flick who are immediately recognizable from the first game and this is where the story truly begins as far as combat goes there isn't very much change from The Originals we couldn't parties consist of six characters and each character has a short range medium range or long-ranged weapon this determines whether or not the character can attack from the back row as in the original game magic and suicide in 2 revolves around runes and characters can use their runes to inflict damage in combat thankfully there is now a three slot system that allows characters to equip up to three runes at once this was a welcome change that added a bit of diversity and customization that the original suicide and lacked also the unite system is back again and predefined groups of characters can engage in special unite attacks if the required characters are all present in the same party United techs incentivize adding certain characters to your party to maximize your damage potential and it really is a fun aspect of this week of in series that most other RPGs just don't offer for the game's strategic battle suicide and two made some improvements upon the original game while the basics of the Strategic battle commands have remained similar hero and enemy forces are now divided into units on a map making movement a key part of the clashes like the first game there are three types of units infantry archers and mages however unlike the first game army battles and suicodin 2 are based on unit attributes so attack defense and runes control the outcomes thankfully there is also added support skills such as healing to augment the strategy all in all suicide and two offered some nice touches that made it strategic battles plainly better than the original sweet couldn't the one-on-one duel battles are back in this one as well and they aren't very different from the original suicodin your three command options attack defend and wild attack basically comes down to a paper rock scissors game however what does make these duels fun is that the enemy typically makes a statement prior to his next move which usually determines what he's about to do though pretty simple the duels do help Advance the story pretty well of all the characteristics of swicodin 2 I think the game's story is the very best part it's clearly darker and more serious than the first suikoden which seemed quite a bit more optimistic for embracing this type of story I think suicide and two definitely surpassed my expectations Ryu and Joey's parallel lives make the biggest impact to the player and how these characters are used is one of the most exceptional facets of the game it's very rare to find an RPG where the two main characters are utilized so efficiently while being located in different parts of the world and with entirely different outlooks for most of the game also the game just offers a ton of nostalgia for those who had played the first weekend this was a nice touch for fans and really a distinctive choice that is rarely done in other RPG series like the original suikoden the game borrows key ideas from the classic Chinese novel shui hu Joon often translated as water margin the novel is a seminal work in China where it is considered one of the four Great Classics of Chinese literature among the influences lifted from water margin are the inclusion of exactly 108 characters these characters are known in the game as the 108 stars of Destiny being able to recruit this many characters offered a fun Challenge and some replay value to the game that would not have existed otherwise speaking of the 108 characters in suicidin 2 one of them is tear McDowell the hero of the first game being able to recruit him was definitely an unexpected touch and it brought back a lot of great memories in order to unlock tier one must first load save data with all 108 stars of Destiny from the original suikoden at the beginning of the game loading save data at the beginning of suicide N2 to unlock special content was a really sweet idea that I've never really seen replicated before in other RPGs at this point I'd also like to praise the way in which suicide and two handles the game's adverse series I just loved how much attention is given to them there are numerous scenes where you see these characters discuss key storyline details and personal thoughts and it provides a great way to develop the characters and make them more interesting this was a refreshing fast of the game that the first weekend didn't offer there are many storyline ties to the first Secret in game as well and the game has lots of great Nostalgia that will make fans of that one very happy for instance the villain Uber plays a bigger role in swicodin 2 and he has become one of the most popular characters in the series and cunning he carries a sincere hatred toward the 27 true runes and is wholly committed to Bringing Down anyone wielding them of course we also have to touch upon the music in swicodin 2. the music soundtrack for this game was a Monumental effort coming in at 105 tracks in total like the original game Mickey higashino was the primary composer as one of the high points in the series the music helps deliver the moods of the game rather effectively the music was also arranged well and the songs definitely fit the game's storyline sequences some of my favorite tracks since we could into include name entry the even more glorious beautiful city and Gothic necklord in all honesty while I think the story in sweep it into is superior to that of the original suikoden I think the music in suicide into is a notch below the level of the first title even though the volume of songs is much greater in the second entry thankfully suicide and 2 did make use of significant ease of improvements over the original title for instance Inventory management is no longer a complete nightmare in the first weekend each character only had nine item slots which made transferring and storing items incredibly tedious suicide and two however the developers wisely created a party-wide joint inventory that made transferring items less of a chore additionally holding down the dash button now allows you to run which is a big help for travel getting around the world faster is always something that should be offered in RPGs and this was a big help unfortunately suicidin 2 was quite a bit rarer than the original title which has made its cost explode for a used copy thankfully the game was finally re-released on the PlayStation Store a few years ago for a much lower price Suicide 2 offers a lot of great features that will please fans of classic RPGs and especially fans of the original game in the context of today's gaming age a lot of people would be turned off by the random battles in 2D Sprites but those two facets are what made sweet Coden fans flock to this game in droves even though suicide and 2 sold about half of the number of copies as the original game it does receive critical Acclaim and is almost universally considered to be a better game than the original if you're a fan of the more modern action-oriented RPGs that do away with turn-based battles and Random Encounters you probably won't like this one however those who do love classic RPGs will not be able to pass this one up it's truly one of the console's greatest games for its genre overall I have a hard time disagreeing with those that revered this game and I consider it to be one of the top five games on the Sony PlayStation when RPGs were just starting to catch fire in the west Konami released suicodin and sweep it into on the PlayStation even though they were overshadowed by Blockbusters like Final Fantasy VII and Dragon Quest VII the two games garnered immense praise from fans and attracted to substantial cult following players were especially drawn to the 108 obtainable characters the stars of Destiny and swicodin's Innovative combat system when the PlayStation 2 was released it seemed only fitting for Konami to bring their Flagship RPG series into the next generation of gaming suicide 3 was created by the same team that developed the first two titles and came out in the summer of 2002 at the time I was extremely excited for it I absolutely loved the first two games so I pre-ordered the title and picked it up from my local GameStop the day it came out I was on summer break from college at the time so I was able to pour considerable time into it suikoden 3's biggest departure from the first two games is definitely in its graphical style while the first two titles used a traditional top-down perspective with 2D Sprites suicidin 3 is completely 3D based and uses polygonal characters given that I was devoutly opposed to 3D this was a big change for me running around in an open world and seeing the characters appear so differently than what I expected really altered the experience it was sweet good in coming to grips with a new age of Gaming Graphics weren't the only Innovation embraced by suikoden 3 because the way in which the story is presented was also very different from the previous centuries this one features a storytelling mechanism called the Trinity site system where the player chooses one of three different protagonists at the start of the game Hugo is the son of the karaya clan leader in grassland Chris is the acting captain of the Saxon Knights and ghetto is the captain of a unit from harmonia the kingdom mentioned in the previous suiciding games all come from different backgrounds and have varying perspectives and you can't glean absolutely all specifics of the story from a single playthrough alone however you do have the ability to switch your point of view to a different protagonist after the end of every chapter so you can switch things up on the fly a bit by meeting specific conditions it's also possible to unlock three optional viewpoints in addition to the three mandatory ones one of them is that of Luke the zany magician and servant to lacnot in the previous suicide games in this one however he's the primary antagonist and suicide 3 takes place 15 years after suicide 2. Luke's vision of oblique future drives him to gather the elemental true runes that manipulate zexin and the grasslands into war in addition Uber the mysterious villain from the first two sweetening games makes his return in this one for fans of the series these connections were among the best aspects of suicide and 3 and went a long way to counterbalance some of the issues I had with it like the first two sweeping games your combat party can contain up to six characters however there are a lot of General changes to the battles themselves combat is still more or less turn-based but this one pairs sets of two characters into a partner system where you can only select one command per group this eliminates the weapon range requirements of the first two games but also gives the player less overall control because the reaction of the Buddy character is dependent on the command you select sometimes commands can trigger a unite attack but other times they'll do nothing I found the scheme a bit limiting and based on trial and error and would have preferred a more simple approach like the first two sweep it in games at least roon usage and one-on-one character duels still remain intact so it's not all bad as in the first two suicide entries there are also strategic battles that involve your entire Army they're different from suicide in one and suicide and twos variants but more similar to the latter than the former player and enemy units occupy nodes and can only attack a unit on an adjacent node each Army battle has specific objectives and rooms can be used to cast spells before engaging in battle the army battles are similar to normal battles except you only have three options for them attack defend and retreat attack engages the enemy as an auto battle defend concerns your action gauge and Retreat moves the unit back once space the more stars of Destiny you've recruited the more powerful your army will be composer the first two sweep it entitles Mickey higashino left Konami in 2001 so the music of suicide 3 was created by a team of three others this fact is very recognizable too because because score is a completely different style from that of the first two it does have its merits but in my mind the first two are far far more memorable this has some good Arrangements but it lacks the Infectious Melodies that older fans know and love I will say that the opening music and its accompanying anime intro is really awesome though so that's definitely worth watching [Music] one of the best parts of the first two sweet hitting games is that you get a castle that gets progressively bigger and bigger the more characters you recruit in suikoden 3 though you only get an old dilapidated one that isn't as interesting it does get bigger eventually but some areas continue to be run down and in need of repairs until the very end and it just doesn't give you the same sense of expansion and grander as you would have expected suicidin 3 is definitely the most challenging game of the franchise which is refreshing in some ways but part of that difficulty results from the confusion of the battle system there are also a few places that will just wipe you out completely unless you're sufficiently leveled and you can actually get trapped in places where you can't grind looking back I just don't have a huge degree of nostalgia for suicide and three I really really tried but I just don't feel for the titles characters like I did gremio Pawn Matthew flick or Victor there's just no comparison to me I like how both Luke and Uber were utilized in the story but it wasn't enough to offset the lack of connection I had with the protagonists delivering the plot through multiple perspectives was also an interesting idea but I think the original presentation was Superior dividing the plot into three segments gives less time to build relationships between the characters and the player and I think suicodin 3 suffers a bit from that loss the 3D visual style while relatively new in its time simply doesn't hold up as well as the original Sprite based approach though having a certain charm it just doesn't work as well the graphics themselves are palatable but the animations especially when running are pretty terrible and haven't aged well I do think the story used some of the trademark humor that suicide and fans had grown to love so I'll give it credit for that still a great game in its own right but I don't think it comes close to the greatness of the first two sweep it in titles still it's probably a top 10 RPG on the system it's certainly worth playing for old school RPG enthusiasts suicide and suikoden 2 were both RPGs that flew under the radar on the PlayStation but both became cult classics that are widely appreciated now we could in three represented the franchise's entry into the 64-bit era but it did throw a few curveballs into the series especially through the various combat changes and by presenting the story Through The Eyes of multiple characters suicide in four which was released about two years later seemed to bring the series back to its roots to some extent we could infor ties in with the cannon established by the franchise and takes place 150 years before the events of the first weekend in game it's the first entry in the series to be produced after the departure of franchise Creator yoshitaka morayama from Konami beyond that there were other notable changes including the introduction of voice acting for the first time and I would actually say the voice acting quality is pretty good overall there's a few spots that are a little oddly adapted but it's really not as bad as some of the other voice acted games from this era not all the text is voice acted either but the major storyline dialogue is unlike suicodin 3 suicide N4 returns to a single narrative that plays out through the eyes of a single protagonist this move isolated suicide in three from the other titles and went back to a more simplified approach as far as I see it this was a good decision since the player isn't just bounced between many different groups of characters you're able to watch them grow in a unified narrative also in an area that will be very familiar to suicide in one and two fans the main protagonist is silent though you do get to select from various dialogue options throughout the game that dictates how certain things play out speaking of the protagonist you play as rosro who is training to become a knight of gaian a duked him on an island in the kuknazi sea during his training the gaian knights become involved in a conflict with a group of pirates in the process the commander of the gaian force obtains the Rune of punishment one of the 27 true runes and the story takes off from there much of it consists of rosro's attempt to clear his name against the wrongful accusations against him and to unite Islanders against the ruthless kuluk Empire thematically it fits perfectly into suikoden's Universe which always focused on the history of the runes and their power to create both chaos and peace one great thing about suicide infor is that the title throws you into all three modes of gameplay right away in the introduction first the ship battle suicide enforced version of the Strategic battles involving your entire fleet of ships and crew second is normal combat the most common battles that play out throughout the game and lastly the duels one-on-one combat that also plays a memorable role in all other sweet hood and titles the traditional combat is a bit different from all three of the previous suicide games it still turn based but your party can only support up to four characters instead of the traditional six however it does do away with suicide 3's major combat Innovations both the buddy system and characters moving across the screen are gone the room system remains intact with a series of tiers that Grant Rune holders a limited number of special abilities and where number of casts available decreases the higher the tier as far as the one-on-one duels go you can choose to attack defend or Unleash Your special attack against your opponent and the resulting damage depends on the opponent's choice stripped down it's really just a visually enhanced Paper Rock Scissors game but I think those that criticize this fact fail to understand why these duels were so fun to the player in the first place rather than the aspect of chance the player's excitement was driven much more by the successful interpretation of the enemy's comments and using them to counter him solve your adversary's remarks made it easy to interpret their next action but others are trickier to understand this balance is what creates The Challenge and sense of accomplishment when you manage to respond correctly suicide and Ford did offer a few major innovations that made it stand out from the other titles in the franchise the first is that the game is very C oriented most of the story takes place on various islands and on the high seas which certainly was a departure in addition your new Fortress to house the 108 stars of Destiny is appropriately a ship that grows to span multiple decks my only complaint about this approach is that the ship itself moves extremely slow so going from place to place is really cumbersome you do eventually get the ability to teleport to existing locations but this method is still required for new locations and it's a real drag the other way suicodin 4 revolutionized the franchise was through the ship battles I mentioned earlier fans of the series know that the previous suiciding games featured some form of strategic battle but they evolved over the course of each successive game this time they're probably more distinct than ever seen before the ship battle encounters take place on a grid oriented system like suicidein 2 but there's a few more complexities ships can be customized by assigning different captains to them and filling them with Crews ships use Elemental based Rune cannons and the key to Winning is to use the appropriate element to negate your opponents in my mind the graphics in suicide infor are really solid for this era especially for RPGs character polygons in the actual environments are much more realistic I think the animations and battle sequences look a lot better than fans would have expected compared to suicide in three I think you'll be pretty impressed it doesn't look as great as say Final Fantasy 10 or Final Fantasy 12 but the sweetening games were never known for their spectacular graphics if you're like me and think that suicide 3 jumped the shark a bit by introducing 3D Graphics I think you'll be more satisfied with suicide in 4 for improving a lot in this area sweep it in and sweep it into composer Mickey higashino left Konami even before suicide in 3 came out but some of her music from the first few titles was rearranged and placed on the soundtrack for suicide and 4. I don't think the soundtrack style differs too much from its immediate predecessor and you can pick up influences from the previous games in the series two of the three composers from suicide and 3 created this score as well and I'd say it's very similar to what fans got in suicidin 3. at 67 total tracks it also offers a lot of variety that won't bore you to death with the same Tunes repeating over and over in polls I've done personally for the channel and also those I found on the internet suicide and 4 is usually ranked as the worst game in the series even so I'm gonna go on records saying it doesn't deserve the hate it gets and I think it's at least better than suicide in three I think the story is really memorable and the narrative is presented in a logical way the sea and Island settings are very unlike the other games in the series but the underlying themes are unmistakably sweet good in the game isn't without its flaws though I don't think the story or soundtrack is quite as strong as some of the other games in the franchise and there's Random Encounters in towns which seems out of place and is really frustrating some of the load times are longer than I expected and the characters aren't as lovable however there are some great tie-in characters from the other games in the series including Vicky Gene and even Ted holder of the legendary Soul Eater rune now that's about as good of a nod to the hardcore suicide in fans as I can imagine in conclusion suicide and 4 is definitely worth playing and may even rank in my personal top 10 RPGs on the PlayStation 2. it doesn't deserve all the negativity it gets and is worthy of the sweet good innate by the time suicodin 5 was released in 2006 the PlayStation 2 was on its last legs Sony's Next Generation console the PlayStation 3 would be released about a half year after the game hit shelves so many gamers had already moved on not to be disturbed though committed fans of the suicide in title still eagerly awaited the next installment and couldn't wait to get their hands on it I was no different and picked up the game right when it came out according to most suicodin 5 didn't disappoint even as many people had turned their focus to the next generation of gaming old-school RPG enthusiasts lauded the title it featured all the redeemable aspects of the series unite attacks duels an incredible story and the ability to recruit the 108 stars of Destiny many fans considered it a true return to form because the story takes place eight years prior to the first weekend game it also provided many opportunities for the developers to tie the war from that game back into this one and this was a great call in my mind seeing familiar characters from the past was a total nod to series Fanatics and I definitely appreciated it it was the perfect way to represent a new story while also honoring the past and giving fans what they wanted to see like suicodin 4 the main story dialogue is fully voice acted the dialogue is probably the best written of any game in the franchise and the developers clearly put time and effort into the tale this was a step forward from suicodin 4 and the company did a great job putting the right people in the right roles I don't think the quality is quite as good as say Final Fantasy 12 but it does flow smoothly overall a few pieces of the delivery feel too forced or overdone 5 takes place in the queendom of Helena a prosperous domain ruled by Queen arshta you play the role of freyador the prince of the queendom who's caught up in the middle of a struggle between two powerful houses the godwins and the Barrows a tournament is set to take place to determine the husband of the prince's sister princess limsleya who stands to inherit the throne also the queendom's legendary Sun Rune one of the 27 true runes has recently taken queen arshdot as a host as a result she begins to behave extremely erratically after freyador and the royal family experience a series of setbacks they are forced to flee and plan to fight back against those who seek to undermine them as you may have guessed suicun 5 continues the tradition of establishing a base of operations building up your army and seeking vengeance upon those that have wronged you and your companions as far as combat goes suicide and five resurrected one major feature from the past the auto command is back as a menu Choice which sets all characters in the party to attack your enemies a great way to streamline the fights that can become monotonous the return of this aspect doesn't mean the title didn't innovate however suicide in 5 introduces battle formations for the first time which play a major role in your strategic approach you begin the game with only one formation but you obtain more as you progress formations Grant statistical bonuses and also a special skill that only that formation can use this makes it possible to draw attacks to particular characters in order to Shield your weaker ones heal your party or even use unique Elemental spells suicun 4 went down to a party size of four characters but suikon 5 returned to the roots of the series by bringing back the traditional six in addition the unite attacks are back to the traditional style that doesn't require leveling them up there are 48 different unites and this was yet another shift back to the roots of the series that I think will please most of the hardcore fans suicide and 5 also utilizes a skill system similar to the one used in suicide 3. characters gain SP in battle which can be used to enhance things like attack power magic power and vitality this functioned as a creative advancement mechanism on top of leveling and opened up character customization options similar to those embraced by the Star Ocean games suicide is known by RPG fans around the world for its army battles so suicide and 5 gave fans one more reason to rejoice each successive title in the series made its own tweaks of these special strategic encounters but this one brings back army battles that are most similar to the ones seen in the first weekend in game there are some differences however as you can now move units around the world in real time the victor of clashes between different units is deterred by the unit type and also by the bonuses granted by the generals of each unit each character also has a special Army battle specific skill that can grant certain advantages some of these are unique but others are shared by multiple characters in either case just like the skill system it was a great way to create variants and set the characters apart in a tangible way duels are still here and they function exactly like they do in the other suicide games there are four total which I think is just about the right amount the game does a very good job at varying the gameplay between storyline normal battles army battles and Duels and the balance and suicide's gameplay is definitely one of its most attractive qualities the soundtrack Embraces the same style as suicide and Suicide 2 while also reusing remastered pieces from those two games so I think it's really enjoyable it's almost as if the team that worked on it went back and listened to Mickey higashino's score in an attempt to recreate that style and I think the sheer quality makes up for the lack of creativity suicide N5 makes recruiting the 108 stars of Destiny tougher than many of the previous entries as many of the characters cannot be enlisted after you complete certain portions of the game doing this without some sort of guide seems nearly impossible to me so make sure to research this going into a new game if you plan to do it the difficulty in recruiting all possible characters is counterbalanced a bit though by the difficulty of the bosses which I think are a bit uneasy side if you find a good formation and a powerful combination of characters and runes you will fly through this game without much of a challenge my biggest qualm was tweaking in five is probably the design of the game's various locations the graphics were excellent in my mind but the areas themselves were lackluster many of the towns were too big for no reason and some of the dungeons just consist of a series of corridors this really puts a damper on exploration and I think they could have used a bit more creativity a changing color palettes is usually the only thing that differentiates them for fans of the series suicide and 5's release ended up being bittersweet despite all the fun it provided to those that love these titles it was the last numbered one in the franchise and it ended up being a flop in terms of sales less than 200 000 copies were sold in its first year in Japan and it did even worse in North America even still I think suicun 5 is the best we could in-game on the PlayStation 2. it had a compelling story that was never a bore and also fun characters great progression systems and good music it was really all I could ask for given that the Creator and Mastermind of the series had left Konami it's just heartbreaking there was never another Mainline suiciding game after this one 2009 there was a spin-off title on the Nintendo DS called sweetcode and tear cries but it just wasn't the same there was also Japan only suicide in title on the PSP that takes place outside of the main Canon when suicon 5 was released I never expected it to be the true Twilight of the series but that's really what it ended up being regardless it's absolutely worth returning to especially if you're a fan of retro RPGs and never played it back then foreign had one of the biggest cult followings of any RPG franchise tactical RPGs like Final Fantasy Tactics and Vandal Hearts were also quite popular to expand the franchise Beyond its traditional bounds Konami made a daring decision when it decided to adapt swicodin to the strategy sub-genre the result of this was suicide in tactics which came up between suicidin IV and suicide in 5 on the PlayStation 2. oddly enough in Japan it was called rhapsodia in terms of continuity parts of suicide and tactics transpire prior to the events of suicide and IV but most of it occurs afterward and several of the concepts and characters are intertwined with each other in suicide and tactics you take on the role of KIRO a young boy traveling with his father Walter to seek out and Destroy Rune cannons the source of immeasurable power during the nighttime raid of a ship Walter is shot by a rune Cannon which transforms him into a horrifying sea creature no longer in control of his mind he lashes out at KIRO but is stopped by and dark who slays Walter in the process all this craziness takes place as the group becomes caught up in the middle of a squabble between Pirates steel a pirate holding the Rune of punishment one of the 27 true runes uses his mysterious power against his Rivals Brando and Edgar in the process the power of the blast kills him as a result Brando acquires the Rune of punishment a key storyline detail at the heart of suicidin IV from there suicide and tactics jumps forward 10 years where kiril turns his mind back to the mission of his father the story branches out from there with friends to recruit and political challenges to overcome like you may imagine battles take place on a grid and gameplay is very similar to what you'll find in other tactical RPGs one difference though is that certain areas of the map are covered in one of four colors to represent a different Rune type some of these are natural but others can be created through your own runes the different Elemental colors affects many things including the power of your character's attack defenses and whether they regain or lose Health at the end of a turn aligning your characters and their affinities with the proper colors is vital and a definite Creative Touch but it also forces you to plan every decision you make around it like nearly every strategy game flanking enemies from the back or side will also improve your damage there's no job system but characters do have some unique traits including range and weapon types characters are divided into various archetypes though so fighter types cannot use the Runes of magician types and vice versa like the other sweetening games you upgrade your weapons rather than collecting them if you're a fan of the unite attacks from the other sweetening games you'll be pleased to know that they're Incorporated here as Cooperative attacks there are two three and four person attacks of this kind unfortunately though they require you to set up your characters in specific formations so they're much tougher to execute than they are in the other suicide games I found that this limitation required sacrifices that sometimes weren't worth it in fact they almost never were and it really detracted from what could have been a very fun tie-in from the other games in the series as for the art style I'm really not a big fan of it it uses a really cartoony cel-shaded look that really is a stark contrast with the rest of the games in the series and I think this was a huge mistake it's pretty unfortunate especially because Siri's Mainstay junko kawano was so deeply involved with the game's development if the developers wanted to bring suikoden into a new form they really should have made the characters appear more similar to those and sweep it in three or four also all the Sprites have thick dark edges that make them look super out of place they don't blend in with the backgrounds at all this really is a big shortcoming suicide and tactics does feature the ability to import suicide enforce save data to unlock special characters and this was a fun part of the game in line with the tradition of the others you can't recruit 108 characters like the other games though because there's only 60. I do have to admit I have a lot of gripes with sweetening tactics many of the battles are just far too long and involve your characters being forced to spend several turns just to move across the map without much action the elemental imbued squares in battle was definitely an interesting concept but it's sometimes more annoying than it is fun I think the voice acting is weaker than the other voice acted suicuning games as well the character portraits in graphical backgrounds are great but the characters themselves were too cartoony and out of place for this week of the universe story is solid but it doesn't blow me away and probably isn't as strong as either suicide in four or five the character animations spell effects and soundtrack were all done very well though so I think those are the three bright spots of the game if you love tactical RPGs with battles that are more than an hour long and a funky art style hey this one is for you but I have a feeling that not many suicide fans are speaker than tactics was a daring Gambit that didn't work out too well in my mind and this one can be safely skipped by fans of the franchise foreign people speak of their favorite RPG franchises suicidin is often mentioned fans of the series have fond Tales of where they were when they first played suicide and one and two and those that stayed with the series beyond that can also tell you a thing about three four and five even so many of the same Gamers that played the mainline series missed out on suicide and tear cries which came out on the Nintendo DS three years after the last title on the PlayStation well it wasn't precisely what most fans were expecting like the other suicide titles it's a traditional turn-based RPG but there were several differences in this one you can only have up to four characters in your party at a time like in Sweden 4. runes are replaced by uh marks of the Stars which substitutes magic points for the Rune system so prominently featured in the other titles this makes it quite a bit different than all the other sweetening games but makes the title more similar to other RPGs instead of sharpening your weapons via blacksmiths as in the other suicide in titles you find weapons throughout the game that can be equipped some characters can dual wield 2 weapons which I actually thought was pretty cool however there really isn't an easy way to find out which characters benefit best from certain types of weapons so you end up having to do a lot of experimentation to find out what works best it's honestly a drag I found most of the game to be very easy also and the battles can be plowed through using the auto attack functionality but the bosses were much more difficult I'll give it that the story of suicide and tear cries takes place in its own Universe outside of the continuity of the other sweetening games you take the role of sieg a young man from citro Village who is soon brought into a conflict between warring factions as his journey develops he becomes involved in a struggle with a mysterious and evil organization imagine that it's pretty cliche and doesn't really match the Intrigue of the other suicide stories I do like how the characters appear with various reactions during their dialogue though which adds a little color to the characters that otherwise may have been much duller the dialogue Sprite visuals are great but if you ask me the character designs themselves are a bit too cartoony for my taste I just think the world of sweet then works much better with a realistic style don't get me wrong it's visually impressive for a DS game I just didn't like the approach generally the top screen is used for pictures of local scenery and party status during battles whereas the bottom screen is used for most of the gameplay does feature the 108 stars of Destiny as recruitable characters and this was a requirement to unlock the game's best ending undoubtedly this is the element that makes it most similar to the other games in the series fans of RPG music will be pleased to know that Yoshino Aoki and Masaharu Iwata contributed to the soundtrack both of which were well-regarded composers that hadn't produced suicide music before in some It's a Wonderful assortment of 74 total tracks and certainly left an impression on me in fact it's truly fantastic tears of the Sky by the pride of The Sword and the Fort Worth stars gather are all fantastic songs and there's loads more here the battle music theme is great too if I had to pick one facet of the game that shines the most it has to be the soundtrack the main storyline is also voice acted but unfortunately the quality of the voices pale in comparison to the music the main character's voice is especially annoying I have to say oh no unless we try though will it that's what I want to know hey we don't know that until we try do we even though the North American version of suicide and tear cries got favorable reviews from some Publications it it didn't receive much overall publicity many of the fans of the series had actually given up on it by that point ever since then the game has gotten mostly unnoticed and was overshadowed by the numbered suicide titles is this neglect earned though in many ways I think it is removing the Rune system was an odd choice that detracted from the lore of the series in an unnecessary way and altering the weapons system was also a needless Choice the game's cartoony style isn't a good fit either and the story is the weakest of all suicide titles the characters aren't as memorable and the game just doesn't give the player that same sense of wonder and betrayal by other games in the franchise If You're Expecting The Game to look and feel like the main squeaking games I think you'll be disappointed however if you're not bound to those expectations I think you'll find a solid RPG with a lot of redeeming qualities especially the soundtrack if it wasn't named suicidin I wouldn't hold as many things against this one but the name gave the game a lot to live up to and it felt a bit short for me foreign was one of the most widely appreciated RPG franchises of its kind fans enjoyed the characters story combat system and especially the huge cast of 108 characters in each title unfortunately though most of the hype the sweet couldn't series enjoyed died off by the late 2000s and suicide in 5 was the last Mainline title to be released Konami attempted to rectify this in two ways first through sweep it and tear cries on the Nintendo DS and second through suicide and woven web of the centuries on PSP released in 2012 the latter was the last weakening game ever released but there was one major problem it was never released in North America thankfully for all of us this hurdle has been overcome through a full English translation patch complements of Twisted Phoenix game translation it was released in late 2021 and allows non-japanese speakers their chance to experience what otherwise would have been a lost relic of suicidin's past Additionally you can download an HD texture package to give the game a much more modern appearance for higher resolution and that is what I did for all the footage in this video for combat squeak it in woven web of the centuries Embraces the series traditional system of six character parties which are arranged in a three by three grid much like suicide 1 and 2. the Rune system is dropped entirely and unlike suicide and tear cries the mark of star system doesn't exist either instead both skills and Magic are inherent to specific classes with each character belonging to one of eight of these classes throughout your journey you can share specific skills between characters of the same class also suicide and woven web of the centuries features a friendship level system where building your relationship between characters can amplify the Damage Done by their unite attacks and unlock subclasses the friendship level of the characters has changed throughout conversational choices and by placing two characters together to dine in your headquarters of all the games aspects I have to give credit to Konami for this one as it really was a unique concept I haven't seen utilized in any other RPG and I have played my fair share there are also several other factors that distinguish this one from the other suicide games as well for the first time enemies appear on screen and battles only transpire when you touch them similar to how this works in games like Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG additionally there isn't a free roaming world map you can just navigate to various nodes what's more is that you don't even roam around through towns or your headquarters you just select nodes there to move as well this honestly was extremely limiting it made the game feel less explorative than the rest also just like in tear cries woven web of the centuries doesn't have the army battles or any one-on-one duels both of which were memorable fixtures of the franchise that were just abandoned also as in tear cries woven web of the centuries takes place within the million World Multiverse so their arithmatic similarities but it doesn't exist in the same continuity of the mainline titles in this one you play as an unnamed hero who is a young swordsman from their Bay Village he learned a special fighting technique called the blue flash style from his mother who was killed when the hero was younger at the hands of soldiers from the ionian empire his father was a legendary hero named torwald who saved the world from a centennial monster that appears every 100 years as the story progresses the hero is thrown into a conflict with the ionian Empire and eventually discovers a mysterious tree whose branches stretch out through the ages and allow for time travel to the Past so yeah this game incorporates time travel for the first time in this weekend in universe and you actually recruit the 108 stars of Destiny in different points of time it's a bit of an odd but bold choice that doesn't really match the themes and spirit of the previous entries the only downside of recruitment in this one is that there are only 18 total playable characters which was a much smaller percentage than some of the other sweetening games woven web of the centuries is also filled with animated cut scenes these aren't dubbed into English but there are subtitles and I'm definitely grateful for this decision because I think it's the best choice nothing has turned me off more to localizations than bad English voice dubs so this one doesn't fall into that trap the soundtrack for this game was created by saiichi takamoto who wasn't involved in the music for any of the previous weekend soundtracks from what I can tell he didn't have nearly as much a claim as some of the other composers that produce music for this series and had no experience prior to this one with RPGs of any kind even so I think he did a great job and this is a quality score that redeems woven web of the centuries to some extent when it comes down to it sweetie and woven web of the sentries is a mixed bag if you're looking for suicide in six you won't find it here but it's still a good RPG it uses some Concepts that were daring and risky but not all of them paid off dropping duels army battles and even the Rune system so familiar to fans were bad choices in my mind even still the soundtrack is great and the characters and story are at least somewhat interesting I also like the graphical presentation far more than sweetened in tear cries and the battle animations for both the characters and the enemies were much better and more realistic woven web of the centuries will certainly scratch the old school RPG Edge and the translation and texture package are both great but the title still doesn't epitomize the best this weekend series had to offer after suicide and woven web of the centuries the franchise went completely dormant despite years and years of clamoring fans failed to persuade Konami to Breathe new life into it at this point most of the developers involved in the series have left the company and gone elsewhere in the video gaming industry and there seems to be little interest in continuing it in September of 2022 though Konami renewed its existing suicide trademark leading many fans to speculate it actually might reverse its decision to abandon the franchise forever Weeks Later fans got some good and bad news the bad news was that Konami did not do this with the intent to develop a new suicide title the good news was that they did it to revive suicide 1 and 2 by putting both games into a single package so we could then wanted to remaster gate Rune and dunan unification these aren't just simple ports either they feature updated backgrounds and illustrations the ability to move in eight directions autosave updated sound and graphical effects and other adjustments by all appearances this will be the best way for those that haven't played the first two games to experience them now those appointed about the lack of promise and future suicide and titles shouldn't be too distraught however this is because original series creator yoshitaka moriyama has assembled an elite crew of former co-workers to produce iudin Chronicle 100 Heroes an upcoming spiritual successor to the Sweet cutting games as part of an extremely successful Kickstarter campaign the game will embrace all the classic Concepts that made the series great including the combat system epic story and emphasis on recruitment for all lovers of classic console RPGs a union Chronicle absolutely ranks as one of the most anticipated titles whether or not the suicide series is ever continued in any way no one can take away the fun and excitement we all had playing these games for the first time whether it was gremio's selfless sacrifice for the benefit of The Liberation Army the gradual Rift between Joey and Ryu as the dunan unification war unfolded or even Luke's scheme to seize all the true runes the suicide in series touched its fans on an emotional level something that can be rarely said for any franchise if there was ever a series that deserved more praise and appreciation than it gets today I can honestly say it's weakening but now I want to hear from you which Sweet Thing game do you think was the best and why let me know in a comment below please like subscribe and click the Bell below for more Retro Gaming content and join my Discord Community Linked In the description also please consider supporting my channel via YouTube's join feature to receive member bonuses such as advanced videos and complete video transcripts [Music] thank you

Channel: Xygor Gaming

Views: 78,258

Keywords: suikoden, suikoden series, suikoden complete series, Suikoden series, Suikoden retrospective, Suikoden review, Suikoden complete series retrospective, Suikoden Xygor Gaming, Suikoden Remaster, suikoden i remaster, suikoden ii remaster, suikoden ii, eiyuden chronicle, eiyuden chronicle review, Suikoden complete series review, Suikoden series retrospective, suikoden complete, suikoden anthology, suikoden retrospective, Suikoden series summary, Suikoden summary

Id: kUyKHj0g9Kg

Length: 65min 57sec (3957 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 30 2022