Suikoden V

"It's an uphill battle for the Suikoden series..."

Ever since the first Suikoden came out, it was fairly consistent in terms of the sales. When Suikoden 4 came out, it left a negative impression by the Suikoden fans. Many Suikoden fans felt that without the original creator, the series itself is doomed. When Suikoden 5 was first announced, some people immediately thought that the series should just end. However, when Suikoden 5 came out, many felt that the series is back on track. So, does this installment really good as many people claim?

The graphics are decent but not really groundbreaking. The buildings are diverse in most of the towns. However most of the rooms look almost the same on every building. The colors aren't that vivid. Some of the towns have a few sets of colors. The magic and attack animations have slightly improved from the previous installment. The magics look somewhat flashy. The attacks on the other hand, looked subpar. It is a slightly different animation of a normal attack. Unfortunately, Suikoden V still has problems on the cutscenes. The flow of the cutscenes is a bit shoddy. It's like combining two clay pieces and leaves out a big seam between the two. However, it doesn't detract from the story. Another problem about the graphics is that the towns aren't lively compared to the previous installments. Most of the NPCs are stuck on one place. Overall, the graphics are decent.

Suikoden V did a fairly good job on the music department. Many of the places have a catchy tune. Many of the music are very nostalgic. Also the music really suits many situations as well as the atmosphere. The problem with the music is that, Suikoden V recycled a lot of tunes from PS1 Suikoden games. Also some of the music is just variations of the same beat. The sound effects aren't that bad also. The fatal blows from the sword and the blunt strike from and Cudgel are very suitable. Although the sounds are recycled from Suikoden IV, it's not really that big of a deal. The voice acting is excellent. The English voices suit the character's personality and nature. The music and the sounds overall is very good.

The story sets 5 years before Suikoden I in the Queendom of Falena. The story revolves around the Falenian prince. The prince is in the middle of the political conflict between several prominent noble families along with the Sun Rune. The Sun Rune is one of the 27 True Runes. Because of this, it led to a civil war within the country as well as tensions in several neighboring countries. The prince of Falena must gather 108 stars and stop the war and must overthrow the manipulative government. Suikoden games, the theme are war. The pace of the story is very slow at first. The pace of the plot will pick up later on. Suikoden V borrows many elements from the first two Suikoden games. Although the concept is handled differently, the story feels too similar. Also, the story drags out a bit. Despite of the similarities, the plot continues to be interesting later on.

The characters this time around are very diverse. The characters got more focus than the rest of the previous Suikoden games. Even the minor characters get some development. One of the common problems to all Suikoden series is that there are some characters do not have a reason to be in the war. In Suikoden V, most of the characters are fleshed out. For those who are familiar to the series, Suikoden 5 has made more development from the characters not just the detectives alone. They also extended through comment boxes. As for the characters on the main story, they seem more diverse and have a lot of personality. Overall, the plot and the characters are very vivid that you want to know what happens to the character and its struggles.

The overall gameplay borrows many gameplay aspects from the rest of the Suikoden games. As always, there are three types of battle: Regular, Army and Duel. Regular is basically your typical turn based battle. Army is a wide scale battle. Duel is obviously one-on-one. This time, Suikoden V has refined the gameplay a bit. For starters, the 6-man party is back. They also added the formations on the battle system. The concept is very similar to the SaGa series. The formations can change the stats during battle. Also, you can do a formation attack. The formations added depth to the battle systems. The army battle is a lot like Real Time Strategy. Everything flows in real time both in land and sea. You must be cautious in every move you make. This may overwhelm the player if one is not familiar to Real Time Strategy. The duel battle is a lot like rock, paper, and scissors. You must predict the opponent's actions while in a time constraint. The characters have more individuality this time around. The skill systems from Suikoden 3 and Suikoden Tactics made that possible. The only difference is that each character can only have two skill slots. However, it is interchangeable. The basic battle system overall is solid.

The controls are very simple and intuitive. The learning curve is very easy to get into. There are more dungeon areas this time around. Although there are more places to explore, the dungeon design is mediocre. It's mainly a few rooms with a long corridor. Sometimes, some of the long narrow strips can lead to a dead end. It happens very often. Because there are no maps, it's very difficult to get around. Also, the random encounter rate can sometimes be intolerable especially in dungeons. Another problem is that there is a lack of manipulation of the camera angles. So if there is an obstruction, it's very difficult to navigate. The loading time can be a pain for some. However, it's really not that big of a deal. Exploration overall is more of an arduous task. Like most Suikoden games, Suikoden V isn't very difficult. Due to overpowering moves and formations, most bosses and enemies are a pushover. The only thing that makes it difficult is gathering the characters and the inconvenient camera angles in dungeons. Overall, the gameplay is fairly solid. However, the way the dungeons are implemented and the challenge may overall detract the gameplay.

For a long RPG, it has some replayability. Normally, without relying too much on the guide, it would take several playthoughs to get all the characters. Also, there are multiple paths throughout the game. Your decision can change the outcome of the game a bit. There are many endings in this game. Most of them lie during certain parts of the game. It may be hard for some to replay through this game since this is the longest Suikoden game up to date. Other than all of that, there's not much reason to play though the game other than the story itself.

Suikoden V is worth purchasing. Since this an RPG, it's fairly difficult to skim through everything all in one week. It's not that hard finding this game now and the game is fairly inexpensive compared to mainstream RPGs. However, due to limited copies and low sales, this is one of the games that will be very rare in the future. Suikoden 5 is great for some who prefers plot for an RPG. For others, it may take a while to get used to if gameplay and challenge is their preference. Since the Suikoden series started, the franchise has gone though a rough path. Suikoden IV hit a huge negative impact amongst the fans. However, Suikoden V proved that the series are still going strong.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/05/07, Updated 02/22/07