Suikoden V

"One of the best RPG's to hit on the ps2 !"

SUIKODEN V REVIEW

The suikoden series has always had its ups and downs with me, But they all still kept their roots to the series.( well sometimes it was a little thread maybe not a whole root! )

Suikoden V does NOT disappoint in that category, it brings back from what we loved in the first two. With some tweaks and a great story added in you get SUIKODEN V...and theres no need to play them in order and you can recruit people for your castle! ( SOD's called Star of Destiny) and its one of the best ps2 RPG's

STORY

The first 7-8 hours are so can bore some because within that time you will get to know all the main characters in the begging and really run around back and forth and do some light work to get the player involved more...So that will mean not alot of fighting the first co. of hours but thats alright. AROUND the 7-8hr mark EVERYTHING changes and will bound you to your seat for the next couple of hours again.

The STORY in this game is anything short of Spectacular it is truly a great story and of course you will be recruiting people along your journey and meeting tons of new people and of course fight in wars. Again Suikoden fans should know what their getting if you've played the series before. Those of you who didn't play them will still feel at home since theres no continuation and the story has a couple of twists as well !

There is gotta be one bad thing about the story right? yes there is..Voice acting becomes minimal and a lot of text is plentiful out in the second half of the game and the story IMO just kinda gets flat at times with you recruiting and all I felt that it just felt flat at times but it was still exciting to see what happens next and it's one of the best story in an RPG that I've played.
10/10

GRAPHICS

I PERSONALLY don't need the best graphics in the damn world for an rpg! and in Suikoden the graphics are...well could be called a step down from III-IV if you want but not me. The graphics are still there in this game and they hold down the game and keep a nice flow and do a nice job at what it's there for, you can still tell characters apart from characters and it seems like a new touch to the series. Not many stuff is in 100% detail but it is still enough though
8/10

GAMEPLAY

Game play is broken down to four sections in this game for the different parts of this game. lemme tell you about them. Theres the turn-based aspect then theres the Wars then the one on one duels.

TURN BASED

This is the one you fight monsters in and is the one that you will be doing for quite some time. Yes there is the random encounter and it is turn based. the action is fast but still enough to keep you to know whats in tune and how your characters are doing also you can use runes and team co-op attacks as well. Since the encounter rate is high this game will put some maybe into frustration in the dungeons although theres only 3-4 story ones and there are optional parts. The battles are all in pact and its basic for the most part you will easily however at times have stronger characters then others and some may seem rigged so a balance issue is intact but for the most part its not a too difficult kind of game. You can also pick up different formation with different tactical formations such as a cross or maybe even a circle.

RECRUITING SOD

This is another big part of Suikoden a very big part..if you don't collect enough people for your CASTLE( yes I said a CASTLE and it gets quite large too) then you will get a BAD ending, if you do just right you get the middle one and if you create all 108 SOD's then you will get the BEST ending. Recruiting though isn't as easy as talking to someone you will for around 40% of them have to do a SIDEQUEST for them and maybe explore a cave or find a treasure etc few though will come with just a simple chat with them though. There are miss able ones which makes recruiting all of them tough so I do recommend you try this on your second play through.

DUELS

The Duels in this game are few and often in between and they are like a rock, paper scissors kind of thing its a triangle between , Special attk, Attk and defend, Spec beats attack, attk beats def and def beats a special. It is very nice and they are mostly fun but some may say they are easy. They are a welcome part of the game though.

WARS

In suikoden you will have at times to fight the opposing side to gain territory and expand. These wars are for the most part objective based, the first few try to get you into the mode and learn how to combat swordsman's and so forth so it might seem confusing at first it might settle down but near the end of the game boasts some difficult wars. You will hafta fight at land and on sea in general
it boasts the same attributes and fighting style as a DUEL

Overall the gameplay fore this game is rough like I said before and you will like one aspect and possibly not like the other. Gets the job done and it does that with its all pleasing however recruiting is a BIG PART OF THE GAME and I wish it wasn't so but that would mean ripping the soul of the series to this franchise. But overall recruiting is fun and everything is fun at first..just may get tiresome although the monster turn based battles although simple can get deep with equipping runes. You can equip a Rune that boats great magical abilities to a mage and put the in the back line and be a powerful sorcerer while putting a rune that makes your front line swordsmans that can deal out lots of physical damage in one turn. Easy to learn and then you can master the runes if you can.
7/10

CONTROLS

Controls are good for this game they get the job done, what I Don;t like is the menu system I think it is badly designed and set up it is too hard to equip a person then rummaging through all your stuff even if you do categorize it it is Rough to navigate with. Running, talking etc they fell in place greatly though so thats a plus and the controls doesn't make battles difficult
8/10

CAMERA

The camera in this game is a mixed bag with 80% of the time it is working and you can get it where you want it with the analog stick and it truly does a decent job. But sometimes you want to see your guy and you cant because theres a building in front of you and you cannot maneuver the camera at that angle but this rarely happens. There is also a ZOOM feature which is really unnecessary unless your lookingfor treasure
8/10

SOUND

There is VOICEACTING in this game and it is also superb almost all the actors fit that character it is truly amazing, although we don't see enough of it in the second half it is still very well done and a pleasure to listen to. The music is also good enough to keep you going and the begging piece is excellent just don;t expect one of the best soundtracks in a game ever coming from this game but it is still good and fits well with the places you visit.
9/10

Buy or rent?
Overall I found this game to be quite enjoyable and packs a fun 40-45 hours play through and MORE if you recruit all the SOD's and do all the sidequests the Voice Acting is superb and the Story is EXCELLENT but I just wish more of those took place in the second half. Overall its still a very good game and RPG fan should pick it up and any SUIKODEN fan should as well it makes a return entrance to the series and its an Honor and a Privilege to play this game! So its worth a purchase.

OVERALL 9/10

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