Suikoden II

"An example of how to make a sequel"

To begin the review, I want to say that I am very excited to speak about this game. You see, I have a reputation for being difficult to please, which is a reputation I disagree with. I am simply a gamer with standards for how my games should be made and, from my perspective, they're not very high standards at all. Here's a basis for my standards concerning some types of games:

1) New IP – Good gameplay, good controls, convenient options (i.e. ability to customize controls, skip FMVs, etc), and perhaps a bit of innovation.
2) Sequel – Similar gameplay to the previous, no major changes, improved aesthetics (graphics, animation, polished gameplay mechanics, etc)

These are the two standards which have probably caused me to hate more games than anything else, especially the second one. Why? Because many developers feel the need to make major changes to a series which they have managed to make popular.

Truthfully, I can understand them to some extent. For many developers, they want to use their creativity to create new games, but creating new games is risky, so they hope to alleviate this problem by integrating new gameplay mechanics into established series. Unfortunately, this is risky itself since they risk alienating old fans, but less risky than the other option because most fans are likely to continue sticking with the series anyway.

And of course, this leads to my problem. I can't even count the number of games I ended up hating due to developers making a major change to gameplay and this gets me a reputation for being difficult to please.

So this is why it makes me happy to review Suikoden II, quite possibly one of the best sequels I've ever had the pleasure of playing. For those who read my Suikoden review first, you'll note that, despite what others thought of it, I myself didn't think much of the game. It had a lot of archaic game elements (due to the fact that it seems to have taken a lot of inspiration from Dragon Quest, the series which hasn't change since its incarnation on the NES), the story was bland and trite, and lastly, the characters were not very well developed.

Suikoden II, on the other hand, is a completely different story. I don't think I've ever seen a sequel which implemented so many changes so successfully and without changing the core gameplay. I can not stress this enough, Suikoden II is light years ahead of the original in every imaginable way.

Konami sees the light at last!

As I said before, I did not like the original Suikoden, and again, it is because I felt it had a lot of archaic elements. These elements, combined with the bland story, made the game seems like an amateurish attempt at trying to capture the RPG starved market during the PSX's early years.

Personally, I suppose I can understand some things about it. It was early, Konami needed a game out for cash infusion, and etc. On the other hand, though, Suikoden II is released in very late 1998. That means it's being released after such RPG heavyweights as Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Xenogears. Mediocrity was no longer acceptable and I think Konami realized that.

As such, Suikoden II has had huge improvements in multiple areas. Why don't we begin with something as simple as the item system? Simply put, it is a huge step up from the previous game.

In Suikoden, it employed an Item Bag system in which each character had their own item bags, which was burdensome for plenty of reasons. Suikoden II uses the modern Item Bag system in which there is a single Item Bag in which the entire Party can access. This makes just about everything easier. Using items, equipping armors, and even just holding things is easier (especially since the item limit has been increased to three full pages of items).

It has been completely improved. There are still some limits such as the game requiring you to equip restorative items in order to use it (which you're unlikely to do as you'll probably just equip more armor instead), but this may add more to the strategy of the game as opposed to simply making it more inconvenient.

Continuing, Konami has made a lot of ‘convenience' improvements to the game. Suikoden II has a run button (the original required you to equip a crystal in order to run!), characters revive after battle as opposed to requiring you to head to an inn, and so on and so on. Even the concept of shopping in Suikoden II has been improved tremendously as not only can you now see how much a new armor improves your stats, but you can also now purchase ‘Rare' items or engage in a type of ‘Stocks' system.

Personally, one of the improvements I like more in this game is that the game provides better hints. In the previous Suikoden, you could easily get stuck wondering around because the game frequently doesn't explain what you're supposed to do next, or it does once and never repeats it in case you forget/miss, Suikoden II fixes this, though admittedly it still has a problem with it at some points. Still, the fact that it happens very rarely in this game is a great plus for me.

Hey look, ma, crystals everywhere!

The battle system in Suikoden II has also been improved greatly. At its simplest, you can see that the battle system is now more complex. For example, the ‘Unite' feature. If you have certain characters within your party, you will be able to perform special attacks. For example, having the two primary characters, Riou and Jowy, in the same team will allow you to do a Unite in which you can perform a 1x-based damage attack to an entire group of monsters. Another example, if you have Riou and Nanami in your group, the two of your will perform a 2x-based damage attack against one enemy. Admittedly, the Unite can sometimes be lengthy, but overall its very useful.

Furthermore, if anyone here played the previous Suikoden, you may remember that the game only allowed you to use magic by attaching crystals, and you're only allowed to attach one. Suikoden II changes that by allowing certain characters to attach two or even three crystals making the system much less limiting.

Unfortunately, Konami hasn't quite gotten it right yet. Lets say for example that you attach a Wind and Lightning crystal; now you have Wind and Lightning capabilities. However, the magic system, making its return from Suikoden, allows you to use magic only a certain number of times at a certain level. For example, the weak Level 1 Magic can be use X number of times and the strong Level 3+ Magic can be used X number of times.

More importantly, this is the same across the board meaning if you can only use Level 3 Magic two times, then that means you can use Wind, Lightning, or combination of both only two times. You don't get two usage for each. What this means is that you'll prioritize and you'll use only the most useful crystals.

Myself? I went through the whole game utilizing mostly one particular type of crystal, which was so damn useful that I attached it on every character I could. Don't be fooled into thinking you only need one type of crystals throughout the entire game, though. Utilize those other available slots or you'll run into a monster which happens to negate the effects of your most valued one.

Additionally, it should also be noted that a new type of crystal has been added to the game: Weapons' crystals. As the name suggest, they're crystals you can attach to your weapons. As you suspect, most of them are just damage increasers or status adders, but some are genuinely cool.

Hey, this game is pretty cool-oh wait, I hate SRPGs.

There are two things which I want to touch upon that I did not necessarily mention in my review of Suikoden: The one-on-one battles and the ‘army' battles.

The one-on-on battles in Suikoden II, similar to the original, are when two people, usually for plotline reasons, fight each other sans the rest of their team. Usually, the battle is pretty straightforward. Each has their own health bar, each get to do one attack per turn which is affected by the other's person actions, and etc. You each get a choice of three actions: Attack, Defend, and Wild Attack.

Attack allows you to…attack. Defend allows you to defend against the other person's attack and offer a counter of your own, and a Wild Attack allows for more damage, but carries a greater risk of a damaging counter against you. The reason why I didn't mention it in my other review and why I hesitate to mention it here is because it comprises a very small aspect of Suikoden II. Whether you like the one-on-one battles are not, you won't participate in many of them.

Now the ‘army' battles, on the other hand. To begin, they're basically battles involving your army as opposed to simply you and your team. See, they were kind of rare in Suikoden too and, truthfully, they are relatively rare in this game. The difference, however, is that they make a big impression in this game. In the previous game, the ‘army' battles were nothing more than regular turn-based battles which involved a little bit different graphics. That's all.

In Suikoden II, the ‘army' battles utilized an SRPG (strategy RPG) format. This was a grave error on Konami's part. I myself played plenty of SRPGs and am used to how it works. I also happen to like SRPGs. On the other hand, I can easily see someone getting frustrated by this kind of thing.

Similar to many SRPGs, the ‘army' battles in Suikoden II is long and kind of drawn out. Coupled this with the game nagging you every time you take too long to do something (well, at least initially anyway), and it is very annoying. I guess it was good on Konami to add some diversity to the game, but to make it such an essential part (you can not progress in the game unless you become good at it because some important events happens to be ‘army' battles), and so different from the rest of the game was a mistake. I'm going to have to fault Konami here.

This game has good graphics and music? I must be dreaming.

Enough about the gameplay, however, how are the graphics? Like much else of Suikoden II, it is a huge improvement over the previous game. At the simplest level, it has better texture, more vibrant colors, and it employs very good usage of shadows. The shadowing in this game is especially impressive and I'm playing this game in 2009.

Furthermore, it is notable that Konami put some time into making the world more lively. For example, you'll see birds fly overhead or react to your presence, water flows more beautifully, animals move around in the forest, and etc.

Perhaps more importantly, this game uses FMVs. I myself never have been a big fan of FMVs, but admittedly, it does help to add to the story. Suikoden II doesn't use many FMVs itself, but the few it does use are fairly impressive.

As for the audio, Suikoden is supposedly famous for its masterful soundtrack. Personally, I didn't notice anything; I did note that it may be my fault, though, as I traditionally don't pay much attention to music unless it hearts me as very stirring. Suikoden II managed to change that. Like the music or not, it's very distinctive. It captures your attention immediately and forces you to listen. I find myself liking the music a bit, but I don't think it's anything special. Still, I have to compliment Konami for the distinctive quality of it, though.

Wait, so Konami have story writers for games other than Metal Gear Solid?

Probably more than any other aspect of the two games, Suikoden and Suikoden II, which causes a rise in me the most: It's the story. And Suikoden II, again, is light years ahead of the original.

I really can't stress this enough, the story has been improved tremendously. Let's begin on what I think the biggest improvement of all is: Character development. From the minute you start playing the game, you can instantly see character development. The game works hard to develop both Riou and Jowy as characters and it shows. Even the entire cinematic introduction of the game's title is nothing but a short in-game FMV on the relationship between them.

Furthermore, the character development for the other people is actually pretty good too. A lot of people claim it was also good in Suikoden, but I have no idea what these people are talking about as the character development for the other 108 characters in Suikoden was abysmal. Suikoden II, on the other hand, doesn't just let you pick other characters up, but in the name of plot and character development, often forces you to use them.

Remember in Suikoden how you only needed a few certain people to dominate in the game and they were really obvious, so you ended up using them throughout the game, and ignoring the other characters? Well, that exists in Suikoden II also, but now, the game won't let you go through ignoring the other characters. Sometimes, you'll have to give up characters you really love in order to progress.

It's annoying, yes, but admittedly, it also does a lot for character development. Now many of the other 108 extra characters actually have a decent story to them. Unfortunately, even Square Enix is not good enough to develop stories for ALL of those characters. Konami, as I had expected, was forced to depend on players previously playing Suikoden to know the story to many characters.

Of course, that is not to say that the whole story is not understandable without having play Suikoden, but some character stories and some events do require players to have played Suikoden first.

This brings me to something: the actual plot of Suikoden II. For those who have played the original, you may remember (or you may not) that it was about a bunch of ragtag people bringing others like them together to fight a big scary evil empire. This time, it's a bit different. Now there are two empires (Highland and the City States) struggling against each other and one side is winning due to the other side bickering with each other and corruption.

Instead of simply collecting soldiers, you're also going around uniting the various governments in an attempt to building an army strong enough to take on the bad guy, which is Highland. A slightly different story, but an appreciable difference, I think.

However, the primary plot is not important, what's truly important is that the story really does play out well. There is never ending character development in this game and it is damn good. The story branches out and becomes more complex. When a surprise twist happens, you are genuinely surprised.

Of course, that is not to say there is nothing traditional about the game's plot. You're still a typical good guy sacrificing everything for others. You care about your friends. You can't understand war at all and wish to end it at all cost. Etc, etc. You even have a love interest; more than one, actually. Hell, with the way Jowy acts, he may be your first love interest (yes, this is a joke).

Damn, that's a lot of praise, CA.

Indeed, I've been doing nothing but praising the game the whole time. Is there any part of the game that I would pass as negative? Of course.

To begin, the story is still a bit predictable in some cases. There are times when a bad guy is so obvious that you wonder why the game is even bothering to hide it. Furthermore, it also gets a bit silly on occasions. For example, in the beginning of the game, one of the bad guys will literally ask you to wait for him while he runs and get reinforcement. Uh, really?

Furthermore, the game gets a bit frustrating sometimes how the main good guys has an important bad guy right in front of them which they can easily defeat, yet they let him go every time. A lot of games have this, though, so it's not something I can entirely fault Konami for.

If nothing else, I'm curious about the translation this game went through. How bad do your translators have to be when it spells even primary characters' names incorrectly? Yes, this does happen throughout the game.

Recommendation

Ultimately, I have to be truthful. You see, it is arguable that my perception of the game's immense improvements may be tainted because, as I said, the original Suikoden used a lot of archaic elements and it had a terrible story. So really, how much thought had to be put into it in order to successfully update the game?

Furthermore, I played Suikoden II immediately after Suikoden, so while the improvements may be more noticeable to me, it also makes a bigger impression than normal because I just finished suffering through Suikoden.

Nonetheless, despite all of this, I do genuinely think Suikoden II is a great game, and I still recommend it to anyone who likes RPGs. As an RPG fanatic who played many others already, I definitely rank Suikoden II pretty high, and I can't wait to start playing Suikoden III.

Overall Score – 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/06/09, Updated 04/07/09

Game Release: Suikoden II (US, 08/31/99)