Suikoden

"Mediocre Game That is Worth Playing for the Series"

Graphics: 5 / 10
Suikoden I is a lightweight in the realm of Playstation graphics capabilities. Aside from the short intro movie at the start of the game, which really just highlights the various aspects of the gameplay, there really is nothing in the game's pallet of graphical features which sets it aside from those found in latter day SNES games. Most of the game plays out in three distinct views: (1) town / dungeon view, (2) overworld view, and (3) battle view. All three views are from a third person perspective using blocky 2D sprites on a 2D background. The sprites in the town / dungeon views have a larger, elongated 2D depiction which allows the character express messages through the occasional body expression. The overworld view is very elementary and is a throwback to the early SNES RPG games. The character sprite in the overworld view is tiny, and the 2D overworld is arranged to support a very linear storyline. The only redeeming graphical feature in the entire game is found in the battle view. The character sprites are fairly large in the battle view, and the camera angle is dynamic, zooming into the action when a critical hit or miss is made. With the binoculars special item, you can even control the battle view camera angle with a second controller. Throughout the town/dungeon view and the battle view you will see the occasional use of layering and geometric animation, employed readily in last generation SNES RPGs. It is worthwhile to mention that Suikoden does have two other less popular views: (1) the major battle view and (2) the duel view. The major battle view occurs during the storyline army battles, and this view is essentially a computer rendition of an ant war. The dueling view, which only appears even less frequently in the game, is slightly more dynamic version, with 360-degree camera action, of the regular battle view. All in all, the graphical prowess of Suikoden I is on-par with the most visually stunning SNES RPGs.

Sound/Music: 7 / 10
Suikoden I sports a very full soundtrack which changes from town to town, dungeon to dungeon. The music permeates the entire game such that you definitely notice the areas where the music stops for dramatic effect. On the down side, the music is very forgettable and aside from the main menu / game start theme, which I understand is reused in the Suikoden sequels, the rest of the soundtrack is very bland. The sound effects in Suikoden I are also mediocre and are mostly relegated to the battle sequences.

Gameplay: 5 / 10
Suikoden I has a plain and dull flavor of gameplay. The battle system is a mostly unoriginal turn-based organization. The only original element to battle in Suikoden I is the designation of long versus short range weapons, such that characters carrying short range weapons in the back row cannot attack enemies. The game developers even counted on the battle to be so dull that they implemented an “auto” feature to the battle commands so that you won't have to sit through boring battle after boring battle. How silly is that? Furthermore, the mini-games, including the major battles and dueling, really just break down to simple games of rock, paper, and scissors. On the upside, the game does include mini-games which are very worthwhile. Suikoden's dice game, which is a bit confusing, is really the only efficient way to make enough money to upgrade your weapons. Furthermore, as much as the major battles and dueling seems elementary, I am glad that the game designers were original enough to incorporate these elements.

Storyline: 7 / 10
The storyline of Suikoden I is really not novel. Without divulging or spoiling too much of the plot, Suikoden I's plot parallel's a lot of that of Breath of Fire II or Final Fantasy 7. The Suikoden series is supposed to be roughly based on the classical Chinese novel, The Water Margin, but there is very little storyline resemblance and no character similarities. Nevertheless, the story is still told well, and there is a clear sense of purpose throughout the game. The player never feels lost in the game because he/she can always return to the castle to get hints and storyline synopsis from NPCs and PCs.

Control: 3 / 10
I am a bit prejudice against games which only allow a “run/dash” function for your characters when a certain piece of equipment or, in the case of Suikoden I, a rune is attached. In Suikoden I, the party can only dash around in towns/dungeons when at least one character in the active party has a Holy or True Holy rune attached. This meant that I went through the first quarter of the game (~5 hours) without the ability to run. Furthermore, since only one rune can be attached to a character, I had to sacrifice the magic / special attack abilities of one character to enable something as menial as the ability to move more quickly across each screen. To further complicate controls, the game has a nasty piece of AI which changes the direction of your character's movement automatically for you when the path is blocked. For example if my character was walking east into a tree, the game's AI will automatically turn my character north when my character cannot go any further east because of the three. This is especially annoying when I want to go south at the tree instead of north. This is a bit of AI / game control that I could have done without. Lastly, I still cannot understand what Suikoden I's game designers were thinking when they made the binocular controls (used during the battle screens to manually change the camera angle) only available on a second playstation controller. Were they expecting Suikoden I to be a 2-player game, where your friend could participate in the fun by being the cameraman? Why couldn't the game designers use two of the four completely unused shoulder buttons to control the camera angle? Aside from these problems, Suikoden I handles acceptably, like any SNES RPG, on a 2D plane.

Replay Value: 2 / 10
Suikoden I warrants no replay. Although the game does give dialogue choices, you cannot diverge from the single linear storyline through the different dialogue choices. If you choose the wrong dialogue option, the game simply stops or repeats itself. You cannot proceed in the storyline until you choose the right dialogue option. Furthermore, there are no actions at all in the entire game which can impact the eventual unfolding of the one single storyline. The only reason to replay the game is if you missed recruiting one of the game's 108 recruit-able characters, but even then there are only a handful of characters which you can miss getting or lose forever.

Overall: 4.8 / 10.0
Suikoden I is an all-around average RPG. It has particular strengths in its soundtrack and storyline, but it fails miserably on areas like replay value and control. This, however, is not to say that the average console RPG-er should just pass on this title. Instead understand that the Suikoden series is, as a matter of fact, a successful RPG series. The game is only able to exist as a series because there are great redeeming elements of its gameplay which are repeated from one installment into the next. If nothing else, please take the time to endure through Suikoden I for the sake of Suikoden II where a lot of the shortcomings of the first installment are remedied.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 03/03/08

Game Release: Suikoden (US, December 1996)