Suikoden III

"A step in the wrong direction"

Suikoden 3 was a step in the wrong direction for Konami. It's by no means a bad game, every Suikoden fan should pick it up, and new players should too. But where they went right with the second game in the series, they went wrong here. Suikoden fans won't find the nostalgia in this game that they found in the second one. New fans may be turned away by the way the game is played. They tried to revamp the battle system, which was a step in the right direction, but everything else pretty much went wrong.

Once again in Suikoden 3, you must collect the 108 stars of destiny. The reward for doing so in this game, is greater than the other two. But aside from that, this game breaks away from most of the traditions of the other Suikodens.

The game starts with a trinity point, something new, that may chase some gamers off. The trinity point goes through the points of view of six different people. The 6th isn't open until you complete the game with all 108 stars of destiny. The three major characters are all on different sides, which was a major change in the normal Suikoden way. Chris Lightfellow is a knight of Zexen, who fights for the federation with honor and integrity, although that same honor and integrity may not be found within the federation itself. She follows the orders of the Zexen federation to attack the Grasslands (which can be thought of, as six different tribes). Hugo is a member of the Karaya clan, a clan of the Grasslands, who will defend his tribe at all costs. Finally there is Geddoe, a Harmonian Mercenary, whose background is mysterious. His mercenary group is searching for the flame champion. The other two groups also go on a search for the flame champion. Each group has their own points of view, and through the trinity point, the players learn the truth about what really happened.

But this game isn't just about the search for the flame champion. There is a threat to the very world. The holy Kingdom of Harmonia is planning on invading the Grasslands, ignoring the treaty that the flame champion had set up. They plan to invade the lands of Grassland, and Zexen, under the orders of the new Bishop. The three groups find themselves racing against Harmonia, to find the flame champion, and the True Fire Rune first. They must learn to fight together, to win against their new enemy, in Harmonia.

The battle systems have taken a major overhaul in this game. First, there is the introduction of skills. This is one of the few improvements that Konami made in this game. Skills can make you dodge better, they can make you go faster, they can do various things. It can even power up your magic. You gain points to put toward skills, taught by various teachers around the land. So now, not only do your characters level up, their skills, and their magic levels up as well. Also new to Suikoden, is the pairing system. There are still six characters, but they are broken up into three pairs of two. These pairs can work together, and this can be either a pain, or a blessing. It also changes the rule of combos, if two people are in a combo, they must be paired up. Otherwise, they cannot do their combo. Another new feature, is a support character, who can heal your characters, make you gain more money, or other various tasks. Some are in battle, and some are out of battle. They are the so-called seventh man. They don't normally help much in battle, but some of the skills are really useful out of battle. The rest of the battle system is essentially the same as the other games. Magic is used by those who have runes. There is no MP system, but rather a set number of spells each person can use until they heal up. There are three types of attacks, Long, Medium, and Short, just like the other games.

The duels have not changed much, but once again, more people actually duel in this game, as compared to others. There are also more duels in the game than the others. It seems that this type of battle was more emphasized here. Some duels must be lost in this game, but they are obviously un-winnable. Duels are still one on one battles, where there are three types of attack. Fight, Defend, and Deathblow. They all do the same as the ones in the earlier series. It's a complicated version of Paper Rock Scissors. There was almost no change in the duel system, when there should have been some new improvements.

The major battles however have taken another overhaul. Unlike the earlier major battles, these rely on character levels and their weapons. Each team physically fights, without control against the enemy opponent. If you level regularly, this makes things a lot easier. But if you don't, you may find yourself having trouble in the major battles. You can still use runes to fight your opponents, and you still have to move your generals to fight against the enemy. But this time around there is a more selective field. It doesn't leave a lot of room for strategy.

The difficulty of the game has also improved. Not just with the major battles, but with the normal battles as well. A lot of the regular battles can be tough on some of your characters. Especially in Thomas's chapters. You have to send a lot of characters to a lot of places at the same time. The trinity point really helps you level your characters early, but even so, using some of the ones you recruit later on, may prove difficult to do. Many of the bosses, including the final boss are more difficult than the previous installments. The Major battles now rely more on strength than strategy. Some of them prove to be very difficult to win.

Not only has the difficulty and battle system improved, but the graphics have improved. There is no longer a world map, which is one thing Suikoden players had gotten used to. Instead there is a map, with selection points on it. You must travel through each point as you go along. Each point is graphically detailed. It's the three-dimensional part of the game. The characters also look three-dimensional, as do the towns, and the battle system.

The music isn't nearly as good as the other games however. It's decent music, but again not much nostalgia to it. The music is just there, it doesn't have any truly defining music, nor does it have any outright terrible music. It's just there. There are a couple of nice songs in the game, but no song that truly defines the music as good quality music.

The nostalgia value of Suikoden 3 is lacking. While this normally doesn't hurt a game, the fact that fans have come to expect it, really hurt this game. There are few returning characters from the previous installments. The only real nostalgia value is in the returning mini games, and the theater. The theater is one of the best parts of Suikoden 3. Simply for the humor, and the nostalgia. Many characters screw their lines up in comical ways. There are some other new mini games for players to explore, but some of them are just tedious to learn.

There is no real problem with Suikoden 3. It's a good game, but it's far from what its predecessors were. On an average scale, it's got slightly above medium quality. It doesn't stand out from other games released around the same time, and it doesn't please the fan base as much as the other games do. Konami took a step in the wrong direction with this game. It turned out fine, and is a game worth playing. But it has nothing that truly makes it a great game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/16/05