Suikoden

"Suikoden is the proof that the whole IS greater than the sum of its parts."

Suikoden is the proof that the whole IS greater than the sum of its parts.

10/10

I love Suikoden. There, I have said it. A game that was first released in the West 10 years ago and yet still enchants after all this time. It seems almost perverse to love a game that was in 2d and required you to recruit 108 characters in order to get the best ending. Yet despite playing so many Japanese role playing games since first playing Suikoden it will always have a place in my heart and on my replay list. The game was developed by Konami, who are not known for their rpgs and yet now have a rune chapel reserved for them in the temple of role playing gaming history thanks to the enduring appeal of the Suikoden series.

When the game starts you are asked to name the lead character, a teenage boy who is the son of Teo McDohl, one of the five Imperial Generals of the Scarlet Moon Empire. You are immediately called to a meeting with Barbarossa the emperor and your father is told to take a trip to the north to protect the empire. After an evening meal at your splendid home where you say farewell to your father and learn more about Teo's household, you go on your first mission riding a dragon to visit the seer Leknaat for a divination. Young McDohl is accompanied at first by his father's loyal servants, Gremio, Cleo and Pahn, and his friend Ted. And very quickly some of the key characters are introduced and the magical and fantasy nature of the Suikoden world becomes familiar. This is how your adventure begins and slowly you are drawn into a world of intrigue, danger and rebellion, far beyond anything that you, the young McDohl, once knew.

Although the main character is young, this is not a children's story, but a very grown up adventure with death and betrayal, and agonising decisions to be made. As things progress you find yourself leading a rebel army against the empire that your father still serves and one by one you have to battle against the five generals. This game is both intelligent and thoughtful. Scenes of are war interwoven with scenes of comic relief and personal anguish. There are genuine shocks in store and if a character dies in one of the main war battles they stay dead. The design gives a visceral sense to the play, and the reality of death and the horrors of war are brought home in sometimes heart wrenching scenes.

What is so distinctive about Suikoden is that, aside from completing the story, the key feature of all the games is that you should try to recruit all 108 characters, who are known as the Stars of Destiny. Every one of these has their own role to play in the overall scheme of things, some more than others. Although the prospect of finding and recruiting so many characters may sound daunting it is a very enjoyable and essential part of the game. Some join automatically, others ask you to fulfill certain conditions, for example finding a lost cat, or beating them in a one on one dual, and others require you to ask them to join even though they may seem to be your antagonists. Also, the more people you recruit, the better your chances of winning war battles and recruiting all 108 is essential for the very best ending to the game.

Many characters can join your fighting group of six and again each one has their distinctive weapon which comes equipped. The weapons also have names, and can be upgraded by a blacksmith sharpening them up to level 16, the strongest. As you upgrade a weapon its stats improve and its name changes too. This is a delightful feature, as some of the weapon names are redolent of Japanese culture and myth. There are swords and bows and magic wands but also pots and pans and hammers and staves, knives and claws and all kinds of weapons. This weapon system means that you do not have to buy new weapons, but it can be expensive to keep sharpening them. Armour is also character specific according to the class of the fighter, so for example a bow wielder cannot equip heavy armour, and a male cannot equip a ribbon. Your group is made up of both male and female fighters and young and old. Sometimes the gender can be unclear, in the style of other Japanese games where girls look like boys and vice versa. But this just adds to the charm. Not all characters can fight as some are in reserved occupations such as the inn-keeper, bath attendant, map-maker and various suppliers and shopkeepers.

For this is the second distinctive feature of Suikoden. You obtain your very own castle base and it eventually is equipped with all the things you might expect an army headquarters to possess and more besides. So, for example you can raise more cash by playing an addictive dice game called chinchorin, you can go in the bath with all your party members and luxuriate in a Japanese tub until you are all hot and toasty, and if you decorate the bath house with the right combination of antiques and pictures and go in with the right characters you are treated to extra scenes. You can buy all manner of useful things such as armour, items, and runes and you can have your unknown items appraised. You can listen to the game music, experiment with making a piece of art, or just go visiting and chatting to all the people you have recruited. You name your castle and army and the sense of having your very own created community is a real bonus.

Although the graphics may be ordinary, the design in Suikoden is imaginative and varied. Each town is as distinctive as any character and has its own music. The capital city, Gregminster is imposing and large with shops, an inn, and stirring music. There are small villages with a few shabby houses, distinctive towns and dungeon locations and even a gorgeous mansion complete with roses, and a forbidding prison. In Suikoden each recruitable character is identifiable by the fact that they have brightly coloured garb, a name, and a character portrait or sprite. These portraits convey their personalities in an instant and every one is different and unique. Although the graphics are two dimensional such is the detail of each character that you very quickly get to know exactly who is who and can remember their names and faces without difficulty. Each has their own style of dress too, and the colourful green bandana and yellow loose trousers of young McDohl, or the all blue clothes of a fighter, and the mauve hair of an elf make sure that everyone is instantly recognisable. The enemy designs may not be sophisticated but they are fun and varied ranging from the female beast tamer, to ninjas and and a blue glowing fiery unicorn. The overworld is clearly defined with towns and trees and mountains, and everything shines with that special Suikoden magic.

The music of Suikoden is simply astounding. Each tune is particular to the place and action. And the frequent combination of folk and classical guitars, violins, simple drums and pipes reflect the quasi medieval and fairytale world. Visit the dwarves and the music is harsh and clangy as befits their devotion to forging and metal. Go to the lost village with its sad fate and the music is mournful and sweet. Neclord's castle has sombre and threatening organ music. The warrior's village is alive to the sounds of activity and quick beats, the temple at Qlon has Japanese chimes and slow tones. The castle music is busy and upbeat. The music of the capital city is stirring and business like with a bold and cheery refrain. Yet revisit this place at a certain point in the game and the same theme has changed into a plaintive minor key that tugs at your heart strings with its memories of happier times. Every town, village, city and dungeon in the game has its own tune. And you can also listen to all the music once you have recruited a particular lute player who will sing to you at your behest.

There are three aspects to the gameplay in Suikoden: the 6-person fighting group, the one-on-one duals and the war battles. The basic fighting is done by a 6 person group who line up in two rows of three. The field and dungeon battles have an excellent and clever system whereby you can fight on auto, nicely called "free will", flee, or even bribe your opponents to let you go. And when you are much stronger than the enemy you can simply select "let go". Although battles are random, this is not a problem and movement around the field is fast. At a point about a quarter into the game you acquire the useful option of teleporting to any location and of using a magic mirror to return you to your base, and can recruit a character with a rune that allows faster movement on the field. And controls are incredibly intuitive.

All the characters that can form part of your fighting party can have runes equipped and these are another particular feature of Suikoden games. In this game your hero has a rune which slowly acquires greater and greater power. Other characters sometimes join you already equipped with a rune, and you can chose which rune to give to others. A character may be a powerful magic user in which case a magic based rune will be best for them, another may specialise in strength and power and so a rune which gives a double attack, or an increase in power will be best. The game has a nice balance between customisation and set parameters so the player can have fun experimenting with different runes and party members without feeling overwhelmed by too many unnecessary options. The same applies to the menu. each character has their own equipment screen, and can carry up to five additional items such as food, healing or attack items called scrolls. Managing the items and equipment of so many characters is surprisingly straightforward and, at the end of a battle a screen which shows the experience increases of all 6 characters is displayed. Another helpful feature is that if a low level character joins a higher leveled group, their experience will increase to match the rest after a few battles.

Fighting is always fun. Monsters may drop items which can be equipped or appraised and sold. Your group of six can use attacks with different ranges. You can place short range attackers in the front row: the sword wielders and bare hands fighters. Those with medium range attacks can go wherever you like and long range attackers and magic users are best placed in the back row. If someone falls in battle and are in the front row they are automatically replaced by a back row character and relegated to the back as a dead body. There are runes that can be used to revive them. An additional nice touch is that some characters have unite attacks. This means that they can execute a special attack which is highlighted in the battle menu. For example two characters who are father and son have a unite attack. Three characters who are members of the same family do so. Three who are members of the same gang, and the hero and his old teacher, or two who are old friends can perform unite attacks. Some of these combination attacks are obvious and others have to be discovered.

As well as fighting battles in dungeons and in the field with your six member party, there are one on one duals which must be won for the best outcome for the story. They use a simple system of defend/attack/strong attack. You select the required move and so does your opponent. Then you automatically fight. The trick here is that a strong attack can be deflected by defending, and your opponent will give a verbal clue as to which move they will select so you have a chance to plan your strategy. Although special moves and spells cannot be used, equipment is a significant factor in winning these duals.

The most distinctive third feature of the game-play is the war battles where your thousands of troops line up against sometimes formidable foes. The people you recruit to join your army are often leaders of their communities or have special skills useful in these wars. So some come with troops and others can fight using magic or arrows. Others ride dragons into battle or use stealth to discover what the enemy's next move might be. The war battles are great fun, and though simple to execute, they are not always simple to win and you have to think carefully what strategy to use.

The replay value of Suikoden is immense. The game is so short that it can easily be played in around 25 hours and replayed in half that time once you know where to go and what to do. So playing for the different endings or just trying out different combinations of characters and getting all their best equipment and highest stats can be a nice additional goal. It is also a good idea to try the first playthrough without using a faq or guide just to experience the game first hand. A second go is not a chore and you can appreciate the nuances of the game at your leisure. When you reach the end and discover that each of the 108 Stars of Destiny has their very own future described in the credits, you appreciate the game even more. Another good reason for getting the best ending is that the save file data can be transferred to Suikoden II, a direct sequel, with some returning characters, and additional benefits. This attention to the detailed history and fate of each character is the meat and bones of every Suikoden game and none more so than the first.

Quite why Suikoden is so good can take some explaining as it is by no means a revolutionary game, although perhaps it is the first to have such a large and varied cast of characters. The story is almost parochial compared to other role playing games as it does not involve threats to the whole of existence. Your adversaries are not evil incarnate and beyond redemption. You as the hero are not destined to save the whole universe from encroaching destruction. The gameplay is very good but not spectacular, the graphics are ordinary and there are no cut-scenes, fmvs or voice acting. The game is simply about the conflicting political ambitions of a disparate group of individuals living in a small corner of the Suikoden world. And yet, and yet.. Suikoden makes you care. That, I think, is its secret. It creates a believable, fully realised and integrated world in which every aspect of what can make a game good has been considered. So in the end Suikoden as a whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts.

Which is why my overall score for the game is a 10.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/18/06