Suikoden

"A model of mediocrity and antiquity"

As a proud RPG addict, I am happy to say that I've literally played more RPGs than I can remember. I played the best of the best and the lowest of the low and if someone were to ask why, I could not offer any answer other than ‘because I gotta!', which is completely true.

Nonetheless, despite my craving for RPGs, and my willingness to play any and absolutely all that comes my way, I will admit that there are strange ‘gaps' in my RPG experience. For example, Suikoden is such an example of a gap. Despite being one of the most celebrated RPGs on the PSX (where I began my RPG addiction), I admittedly have never played it or its successors.

Then one day, I decided to play the original Suikoden for the first time. Here's how it went.

What is with those gameplay mechanics, Konami?

Suikoden is an RPG released by Konami for the Playstation in 1995. Very generic sentence, but written for a very good reason. From this sentence alone, you can deduct numerous things about Suikoden. To begin with, since it was developed by Konami, a company better known for action espionage games than RPGs, you would think that the game would not be on the same level as an RPG developed by, oh say, Square. Secondly, the fact that it was developed for the Playstation so early during the console's lifespan also suggests that it's an attempt to cash in on the RPG starved masses.

Well then, how true is that assessment? I would say partially.

To begin, Suikoden seems like an amateurish attempt to gain RPG market sales, and it shows. The gameplay of Suikoden is very simplistic and I suspect Konami chose to imitate Enix more than Square when they decided to create this game. In other words, Konami took more ideas from Dragon Quest than Final Fantasy when making Suikoden.

You can see the effects of this almost immediately upon starting gameplay by going into a shop to purchase something. To put in a word: Archaic. It feels very archaic and, in this respect, it fits pretty well with Dragon Quest.

Looks like another trip to the town to sell my stuff is in order!

Similar to the latter, Suikoden employs a character-based item bag. What this means is that each character has his/her own item bag with items that is inaccessible to other characters (unless the items desired is ‘given' to them). The problem with such a system (and why DQ is still the only major RPG series which uses it) is that it's limiting. Aside from making shopping a hassle (you have to buy/move armors into the item bag of each person you want to equip), it also makes battles unnecessarily difficult. For example, in order to use an HP replenishing item, you have to have that item in the item bag of a character. If it is Character A's turn, but the HP replenishers are in Character B's bags, then Character A can't use it.

Furthermore, another inconvenient fact of such an item system is that armors are also kept in the item bags. Since the bags have a limited number of spaces for items, this makes it tremendously inconvenient. I can't count the number of times I had to travel back to my base in order to deposit items, travel to villages in order to sell items, or just outright throw the items away in order to make room.

Modern RPG item systems (i.e. RPGs since the time of the SNES) uses a single item bag (with no limit) for a reason; it's simply more user friendly and less of a hassle. The old system was simply outdated and a huge hassle; Konami made a big mistake in implementing such a system in Suikoden.

Uh, wait, I missed that detail you just gave me. Can you repeat it again?

Moving on, one can continue to see Dragon Quest's influence pervade through the rest of the game. For example, the method of story progression is extremely reminiscing of Dragon Quest. In DQ, the game would give you some sparse details, and then expect you to explore in order to find out what to do next. Suikoden follows this model.

Frequently in the game, I would be given a few details on what to do (glossing over text was a big mistake), and then the game just toss me out in the open to find my next destination. There's no repeat of information or synopsis in the menu either; if I miss the information, then it's off to an FAQ I go because there won't be a second mention.

Again, another big mistake on Konami's part from my perspective. Fortunately, all is not bleak in Suikoden as, indeed, Konami prove they have a mind of their own in some important places in the game.

For those of you familiar with Dragon Quest and became worried due to my comparisons, you can rest assure that Suikoden does not have all the same flaws as DQ. For example, the turn based battle system is ‘mult-target' meaning that if you focus all of your attacks on one monster and one of your characters happens to kill it, your other planned attacks won't suddenly miss but they will instead shift to the next target. Thank God for small favors.

What do you mean it cost $200 per person to stay in your inn?

Next, DQ's notoriously expensive shops are non-existent here. Mind you, shops do have outrageously priced armors/items that don't seem all too powerful over what you already have, but money is very easy to get in the game, so it never becomes a problem. By the way, I have not mentioned it before, but you can not change weapons in this game; instead, your characters stick with the same weapon through the whole game, and as you progress, you are given the ability to ‘refine' your weapons at a black smith (for a hefty price too) in order to make them more powerful.

Regarding the magic system in the game, it's also outdated, but it works fairly well. To begin, magic is not based on MP (magic points) like in other games. Instead, you can only cast each spell in your arsenal a certain number of times, which will increase as you level up. Furthermore, each of your characters will derive their magical capabilities from ‘crystals', some of which must be purchased/found and attached to the character of your choice while others are attached to a character by default, and can not be removed.

There are three types of crystals in the game: Unique, elemental, and skill-based. The unique crystals are the ones that comes attached by default (in most cases anyway) and they're the most unique in the game in terms of effect. The elemental crystals carry the same effect you see in other games (i.e. Fire/Wind/Water/Earth-based magical attacks) and each type will differ in types of attacks, such as whether they're more oriented towards attacking multiple foes or one foe. The last crystals are the skill-based and, as their name implies, they're crystals meant to boost various parts of your skill.

The unique crystals are a hit and miss in terms of usefulness. Some unique crystals, such as the experience crystal, are immensely useful while other unique crystals carry an attack that is only useful depending on how strong your foes are. The usefulness of the elemental crystals will depend on your own preference; if you want extreme attack power, you would probably want the Wind crystal, and if you want multi-target attacks, you would probably want Earth crystal, and etc. Last on the list is skill-based crystals, which does things like increase your chance of critical, luck, and etc.

Normally, the skill-based crystals would be useful, but considering you could only equip one crystal at a time, you would normally want to equip an elemental crystal for extra attacks, not a crystal that increases your skill, thus making the skill-based crystals pretty useless.

108 ‘Stars of Destiny', eh? Awesome, I can use my laundry skills to fight!

Up to now, I failed to talk about one of Suikoden's biggest selling points: the fact that it has 108 characters available to the player to use. How it did turn out? Meh, it's a decent gimmick, I suppose. It does add additional gameplay to Suikoden, but overall, not a very notable part of the game.

To start, how is the process of getting these characters? Well, you get them by talking to various characters, and trying to recruit them. Of course, due to the sheer amount of characters, recruiting many of them are very easy; more often than not, it just involves finding and talking to them. Others, on the other hand, may require some work, such as forcing you to be a certain level, finding an object for the character first, and so on. Not really a big deal.

Unfortunately, it's highly doubtful you will use even a decent amount of the extra characters. Suikoden does not have side-level ups meaning that only the people in your team gets experience and levels up; the characters you keep in your castle remains the same. By the time you decide to use one of the characters, they may be so far below your level as to be useless in battle.

In most cases, though, you won't use the other characters simply because there is nothing unique about them other than their looks. There are basic stats differences and specialty, of course, and some will have unique abilities, but rarely will the stat difference/abilities be so great as to get you to switch to another team. Instead, you will notice all the characters with the great stats in the game, and will probably continue to use them.

To illustrate how obvious these characters are, here is an anecdote from me. After I beat the game, I went to the character database in the FAQ section for Suikoden to find out who the best characters were supposed to be and, surprise surprise, all the characters I noticed happens to be the best in their class. And I manage to find them all on my first play through.

In case you were wondering about my quip up there about laundry skills, it's a comment regarding how hard Konami had it trying to make characters unique. One of the characters that joins your army being a lady who admits she likes doing nothing but laundry.

So wait, the entire ‘Liberation Army' have nothing but good guys?

When it comes to RPGs, stories are always a big part. All developers realize this and all developers try to mix it a little, even if the result is a little more than the typical ‘Save The World From The Evil Empire' formula. Sometimes, it's a corporation. Sometimes, it's a group of people who hates the world.

Suikoden is the first. No, not the corporation, but the evil empire.

As you may have guessed from the above line and the section title, Suikoden has an extremely generic story. Basically, you are Tir McDohl (or ‘Hero' if you didn't read the novelization), the son of the great general Teo McDohl. You are a good person and a loyal fighter for your emperor, but were suddenly thrown in chaos when your friend was attacked by someone in the Emperor's employ. Then you are befriended by a man named Viktor, who introduces you to a group called the ‘Liberation Army' that is going to help save the people from mistreatment.

Sounds familiar? If you've ever played any RPGs lately, you will recognize it. In fact, why don't I just change the wording a bit: You are the son of a great fighter and a loyal, but moral person in your country. However, your loyalty and beliefs are tested when you are betrayed by your own leader, but were saved by someone who makes you realize that makes you realize that perhaps ‘the rebels' your country has been fighting are actually the good guys.

Now does it seem familiar? It is the basic backbone of a formula made famous by RPGs on the SNES. Of course, all RPGs uses familiar formulas that was invented long ago, so it's not fair to blame Suikoden for also using such a formula. I do not fault Suikoden for using the formula. However, I do fault it for using the formula in the blandest way possible.

You progress through the story learning how evil the empire is through the usual way: oppressed villages tell you, former soldiers tell you, and etc. When any major event comes up, it progresses in a bland way. Again, I won't go into details about the plot, but imagine this: Say your best friend decides to join the army in order to fight against you, the traitor. Well, when you eventually meet in battle, and defeat him, the end will be him learning the truth, and saying he is happy for you, and he will die. This will all last roughly 2 minutes.

Note that the above scenario does not actually appear in the game; I just made it up to illustrate my point. It's difficult to argue in favor of the story once you play it, so I'll just cut to the point: The story is bland and uninspiring.

But enough of that, how is the actual storytelling method? I hate to bring it up again, but the storytelling method is a lot like Dragon Quest. You go from once place to another and you talk to the townspeople/plot characters in order to learn the story. There are absolutely no FMVs in this game nor is there even any voice acting. In fact, and this may bring up thoughts of ‘antiquity' again, but Suikoden has a main character that doesn't speak. Nintendo does that well, Konami doesn't.

Recommendation

Alright, lets get to the point now: Do I recommend this game?

It depends. If you're an RPG fan looking for a unique RPG experience, then you might as well not bother. On the other hand, if you're an RPG addict looking for any RPG to play, then sure. The latter part was basically me.

I'm not trying to say that Suikoden is a completely bad game as it does have its good points. To begin, Konami kept the pace of the game excellently. Random battles are not high, yet they give you enough experience to level up well in order to keep moving in the game making for a fun experience. Furthermore, while the story is not very compelling, many people tell me that the soundtrack is one of the best available in any games. Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention, so I can't comment on it much.

What can I say? Unless the soundtrack is absolutely phenomenal (we're talking Ocarina of Time, Final Fantasy VII, or Xenogears level now), then I most likely won't even notice. Again, not to say that the Suikoden soundtrack isn't phenomenal because I sometimes miss hearing great music too.

Ultimately, Suikoden is an enjoyable enough romp for anyone who wants to waste time. I myself did enjoy my time with it and my only major complaint/suggestion to Konami is this: For God's sake, don't copy Dragon Quest. DQ is a good series in its own right, but Enix is a stubborn headed developer that refuses to update its gameplay mechanics (which is why Dragon Quest VIII plays almost exactly like Dragon Quest I).

If you're going to create a game, use common sense and ideas from other companies. Don't copy their game directly hoping it'll net you their market.

Overall Score – 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/06/09

Game Release: Suikoden (US, December 1996)