Suikoden III

"Konami proves that they really can’t compete with the big boys"

Thomas Jefferson was all about the expansion of America. He shoved the Louisiana Purchase through Congress and sent Lewis and Clark off to explore the frontier territories in the northwestern United States. Konami seems to want to focus their forays into the role-playing universe after this great leader.

There is one key difference between Thomas Jefferson and the top brass at Konami: Jefferson accomplished his ideal of creating a great nation that stretched from sea to shining sea while making sure that the eastern seaboard continued to flourish. Konami has abandoned some of the richest locales in video game history in favor of pushing further north and west.

Suikoden III is set in the hotbed of the Grasslands region. Harmonia and Grasslands have been traditional enemies and an uneasy fifty year peace has been over the region since the Flame Champion valiantly defended Grassland. The nation of Zexen was once a part of the Grassland. Now Zexen has made every effort to modernize its nation, complete with knights in shining armor, impressive castle walls, and a capital city (Vinay del Zexay) that can rival anything that Muse or Gregminster could ever offer - with the exception of ease of navigation. Many of the new cities are extremely difficult to get around in. Chisha Village has underground passages and rooms that can give you migraines. Many of the shops in Le Buque are hidden three or four rooms deep in buildings. And the Great Hollow is an immense city that can take more than five minutes to go between some of the shops.

The story unfolds twenty-two years after the original Suikoden, in the year 475.. Through use of the new trinity system you get to see the same story from three different perspectives. This sounds cool at first, but it quickly becomes incredibly annoying. You can pretty much predict what is going to happen in each of the stories so it becomes extremely repetitive. (Chris and Hugo’s story’s overlap the most.) I would have far preferred a straightforward, traditional Suikoden RPG.

That’s not to say the three heroes of the game aren’t a colorful crew. We’ll start with Chris Lightfellow. Chris is the Captain of the Zexen Knights, the much ballyhooed defenders of Zexen. The Silver Maiden is a visual enigma, complete with purple eyes, silver hair (in her mid-twenties!), and the most detailed complexion out of any character in the game. Hugo is the son of the Karayan Clan Chief Lucia. You may remember Lucia from Suikoden II as a Highland sympathizer. He’s a thirteen or fourteen year old boy who prefers to act first and think later.

The most mysterious hero of the bunch is Geddoe. Geddoe could almost be considered the anti-hero. He’s a mercenary based out of Caleria, one of the few cities in this game that have been mentioned in previous Suikodens released in the states. His story is kept extremely mysterious and he has the tendency to leave his merry group of followers in the dark about much of his actions.

This motley crew makes up the trinity. The story unfolds from each of these perspectives across Zexen, Grassland and Harmonia. However, none of these nations has the emotional pull that the Scarlet Moon Empire or the City-States of Jowston had. Zexen seems to be a rip-off of Matilda, something that you’ll notice more and more as you progress through Suikoden III. Harmonia’s society is too unbelievable to be compelling. And there seems to be no rhyme or reason when running around through Grassland.

Grassland is designed to be a collection of different races uniting together. (The Duck Clan’s Village, the Lizard Clan’s Great Hollow, etc.) However, these towns aren’t as fascinating as the old Dwarf Village from the original Suikoden was. Cities like Iksay and Caleria cannot compete with South Window, Antei and Lenankamp. This is part of the reason why I’m extremely disappointed with Konami’s decision to keep moving outward when there are great locations already created. Suikoden III does not visit any city featured in a previous Suikoden game. (I’m not including Suikogaiden.)

The story also has the tendency to drag . . . . . a . . . . . lot.

This becomes extremely annoying when you’re near the end of a chapter and are getting anxious to advance. And the story just won’t move. Another hindrance to the movement of the story are a couple of battles that are just too difficult for the level that your characters are likely to be at. (This mainly occurs in Hugo’s file.) This requires you to go run around and level-up your character, which slows the story down even further.

Of course it doesn’t help that the battles are fairly slow. Gone is the traditional short, middle, and long range system of Suikodens I and II. Now characters are grouped into three groups of two. They move around the battle field in three dimensions and generally ignore half of your orders under the pretenses that there are other foes in their way. This becomes even more frustrating when you realize the new system for usage of Runes and items. Out of ever pair, only one of the two people can use a Rune or an item. A pair cannot use a Rune and an item in the same turn. And items can only be used on one of the members of the pair that is using the item, not on any of the other characters. What the hell is up with this! Who’s bright idea was it to have to waste three of the character’s Runes in a turn! I think this is Konami’s not-so-polite way of telling you to pair a fighting character with a magic user without literally forcing you to do it. While that is a sound ideal, this method takes away much of the freedom in the game in party creation and in battles that used to be present. I would kill for some good, old-school Suikoden battles. They are faster, contain more choices for the player, and are a whole lot more fun.

The major battles have returned, but in yet another new form. Suikoden I still takes the cake for the best of each of these. Suikoden II opted for a more strategy RPG route. Suikoden III seems to prefer Ogre Battle mixed with a pinch of dumb luck. Characters can only move to certain spaces on a map. Then they attack each other. However, in these battles you have no control over your characters, a la Ogre Battle. After each round you can select to attack, defend, or retreat. Nothing more. If neither leader is felled, no team is decimated, or no party retreats a battle ends after three turns. Generally you don’t have to beat all enemy units to win these wars. There are a variety of criteria used, but they generally limit your battling potential through one of a variety of inexplicable handicaps.

There is one significant, new addition to the gameplay. Suikoden has jumped onto the bandwagon and now includes skill points. These skill points can be used to train your characters in a variety of skills. First of all, there are the standard skills like Damage, Armor Protect, Weapon Swing, and the like. Then there are some character specific traits that cannot be taught at a Bujitsu Teacher or at a Tutor. Rare skills like these include Sharpshooter, Adrenaline Power, and Pale Gate Magic. (Bujitsu Teacher focus on physical skills. Tutors are used to teach magical skills.) These traits are upgraded by spending a certain amount of the accumulated skill points to raise it a level. Character’s statistics are also still upgraded through traditional leveling up. Also, do not worry about the Rune system changing. It has not. Each character can still equip up to three runes, one on their head and one on each hand. These are still affixed in a rune shop. By Pale Gate Magic, I mean that tutors raise the strength and chanting speed of rune attacks. The one difference to the rune system is that it can take multiple turns to cast a rune now. If a character is attacked while “chanting,” or preparing to cast his spell, often times he or she will stop chanting and all of that preparation time will have been wasted.

We’ve established that the cities and battle system haven’t made the transition to the PlayStation 2. What actually did? Characters surely didn’t. While Suikoden I and II enjoyed an enormous number of repeat characters, the number falls drastically in Suikoden III. Gone are some of the standbys you never thought would disappear. You’re greeted with an almost entirely new cast that doesn’t compel you the way the old ones did. There is a trio of minstrels that is an obvious take off on Eilie’s gang of carnies from Suikoden II. Gone is everyone’s favorite fisherman, Hai Yo. Heck, gone is the idea of having a boat itself. Part of the mystique of the Suikoden series was how heavily it relied on water. Lakes were the focal points of maps. Now the focal point of the map is a giant plain. Auntie Em, I’m afraid we’re still in Kansas.

Despite these horrible losses, the worst loss of all hasn’t been mentioned yet. Suikoden has been traditionally known as one of the games with the best musical scores. The original Suikoden has the best soundtrack out of any video game I have ever played, and Suikoden II is not much behind. But these grandiose themes complete with full-orchestra are gone. Instead we’re stuck listening to some crappy new age, ethnic music. Many songs consist of only one or two instruments, and generally more obscure ones like pan flutes. If you’re a hippie of the twenty-first century, Konami’s got some great songs for you.

Many of the fascinating city designs have also fallen apart. While the Karayan Clan consists of an African inspired Safari-decor, complete with leopard and tiger skins, many of the other cities are rather blah looking. Ooo. Zexen cities have high stone walls. Ooo. Caleria has adobe buildings. Nothing really grabs you. The spell animations are much the same way. Now that Suikoden III is in three-dimensions, Konami used some random, over-the-top effects that do not really have any meaning. Sure, Suikoden II might not have been as flashy, but the designs made sense with the spell. The hand-drawn aspect of it allowed for intricacies that have been lost.

The wacky character designs also haven’t made the transition. In two dimensions, the artists made every effort to show a character’s personality through their appearance. Clive was a dark and mysterious, cloaked man. Nanami showed her background in martial arts as well as her bubbly personality through her brightly colored garb. When walking around towns you could always tell which characters were members of the 108 Stars of Destiny because they always looked wacky; they stood out from the crowd. Now you can’t tell in many cases. Rhett and Wilder look like ordinary old ducks. The entire population of Chisha Village looks almost identical to one another. Characters no longer stand out.

You might think to yourself that 108 characters is a lot to create good costumes for. Yes, but 108 characters is a lot to find throughout the game as well. Thankfully the most important aspect of Suikoden has returned. The quest to get all of the Stars of Destiny still reigns supreme. This journey will take you from city to city. It will bring you on side quests, quirky mini-games, and seemingly random dungeon searches. But when you get all 108 characters you are overwhelmed with a sense of accomplishment.

One other thing that made the jump from Suikoden II to Suikoden III was the incessant burning of villages. Konami seems to be a company made of pyromaniacs who don’t like to agree on who the villain of the story should be.

Sadly those impressive cook-offs are no longer included. It seems that Mamie, the new chef, doesn’t have as interesting a back story as good old Hai-Yo did. Another inexplicable omission is Chinchorin, that old dice game that apparently left along with Tai Ho. (Also gone are the Japanese names. You won’t find characters like Tai Ho and Hai-Yo in this game. Instead you’re greeted by traditional old English names: Thomas, Sebastian, Elliot, et cetera.) While there are still some mini-games included, none of them have the same pull as the old ones did. The only game remotely interesting isn’t even a game at all. It’s Nadir’s plays. By collecting scripts scattered throughout the game you can assemble an all-star cast of characters in fabulous plays like William Tell and The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Sadly Cats was not included. Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses as an actor. You can use these to assemble a cast like that of The West Wing or like that of Veronica’s Closet. It’s your call. But you have to live with the boos if your rendition is horrible.

It also seems that with each incarnation of your castle, things become a little more wide open. Urban sprawl was even at work in the fifth century. In Suikoden I, your castle was clearly that. It was a massive stone tower set in the middle of a lake. Suikoden II brought you to the setting of a military fort: still nice and compact, but with a little more room. Suikoden III’s base is just like a city. It kind of takes some of the fun out of it. Wandering around town takes quite a while and it begins to become a drag when the elevator services only a fraction of the rooms in the city. The bath’s importance has also been limited. Since you can place paintings and pottery all about the manor, it’s necessity has been undermined. Also, you don’t get to see the characters actually take baths. Before you could see their heads popping out of the water, and sometimes rather hilarious scenes were unveiled. Now you’re treated with . . . . . a view of steam and water. Woo-hoo.

Then, of course, the one major flaw with previous Suikoden games still hasn’t been fixed. WHY THE HELL DO CHARACTERS MOVE SO SLOW! Using the digital pad brings about the show of their speed. They creep around like their on a stealth mission in Metal Gear Solid. But slower. Their actual running speed is equivalent to Solid Snake’s speed when evading enemies. Only when characters are on horseback is the speed equivalent to what the normal walking speed should be. When characters move about like sloths it takes a lot away from the game. In fact, it has probably added three to four hours of unnecessary length to Suikoden III. When you think of how you could have used that time in other ways, you begin to get rather annoyed.

These annoyances make you want to play Suikoden less and less. This is an enormous shame, because I have played the original Suikoden sixteen times (and counting) and Suikoden II seven times. I can’t see me playing Suikoden III more than twice. I’ll play it once to beat the game and once to snag all of the secrets. After that, its to the back of the shelf. Coming from me, one of the most rabid Suikoden fans to roam the earth, this is an insult that should be taken personally.

Essentially, Suikoden III has been dumbed down in the spirit of innovation and Americanization. Puzzles are now nonexistent. Wander about in a maze long enough and you are bound to get through. Much of the traditional Asian elements that made the previous games so great has been scorned in favor of names like Hugo, Chris, and Cecile. The Trinity System seems as if it is a sorry excuse for a lot of hype when a traditional story would have worked better. This isn’t to say that Suikoden III is a bad game, because it is certainly not. It just could have been better, especially with more inclusions of the previous games in the series. Sure, there are a few references in their for the hardcore fan (like the Schnottleheim Reichbach III choice when identifying yourself), but Suikoden III falls short of its predecessors in every aspect.

PROS
*The acting mini-game can be fairly entertaining.
*The fact that the series has jumped to three-dimensions has gotten it some much needed public attention.
*The addition of skills allows for characters to grow in ways besides experience.

CONS
*The music! ARGH! They’ve killed the music!
*The battle system is slower, more repetitive, and too simplistic.
*The major wars just keep getting worse and worse.

SCORE SUMMARY

GAMEPLAY--7
GRAPHICS--5
MUSIC--5
SOUND--8
CONTROL--6
FUN--8
CHALLENGE--LOW TO MEDIUM
REPLAY VALUE--LOW TO MEDIUM

OVERALL--6

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/01/02, Updated 12/01/02