Suikoden

"Hi, Would you like to join my army? Catches? Yes just one, The empire has your head if we get caught!"

When thinking of a RPG, any RPG, one by Square like Final Fantasy or Chrono trigger or Chrono Cross always comes to mind, doesn't it? There are other RPG's around the world, which you will think aren't that good because they don't have a large number of sequels like the Final Fantasy series. ManY RPG's become un-noticed, Like the Breath of Fire series, and the Suikoden series.

On release, Final Fantasy VII was ''unbeatable'' in terms of the Role Playing Game crown, Many people who thought of that back then and still think it now are frozen in time with that magnificent game, but other RPG's come along and try and maybe succeed in taking the prize for the best RPG created. Suikoden is one of those RPG's.

Konami wanted something original when deciding on a RPG for the Playstation all those years ago, How about one with a mystery girl and a main hero with a sword and blond hair? No, to unoriginal! How about one where you control a boy from an ancient civilization and can turn in to Dragons at will? No, Think Konami think! They came up with the perfect idea though, Something not exactly been done before...

Suikoden was one of the most un-noticed games back in the days, dispite the new idea. The idea was basically to invent a war in a make believe world, which one side is led by a young boy who gave up life on the other side of the war and had over one hundred of his friends, and their friends joining him.

You start off with your father, A highly respected General working for the Empire, You and your father have been called. Your character, who looks more of a palace cleaner then the son of someone close to the big cheese is asked to go on a mission with your friends, Pahn, Gremio, Cleo and Ted to go to the magic kingdom for something...

You adventure carrys on, becomes the most gripping story ever seen in a RPG, you will be wanting to spend ages just to find out what happens next. Later on in the game, you get your very own castle AND army so you can kick the empirer side, the only bad thing is, that your father is one of your enemies.

Suikoden's story is full of adventure, excitement, Love, Friendship, Trust, Bravery, Courage and of course, Betrayel.

There are over one hundred and fifty important characters in Suikoden, One hundred and eight of them characters join your army, each and everyone have their own personality and abilities. the wun down on the main characters, from The hero, A Scilent boy, Cleo, A Beautiful servent, Gremio, a paranoid bodyguard, Pahn, a strong bodyguard and Ted, The hero's best friend. They have their own secrets and pasts, plus more characters are in it, Such as the scruffy Viktor or the old friend of Gremio, Camilla.

It may sound a little bit complex, But Suikoden is a very easy game to get in to, The game is massive, so the fun won't end when you are just getting used to the game. The main idea is to get on with the task in hand, whislt recruiting characters. If you find a odd looking character somewhere in the game, speak to them, they may join your army. If a character joins your army, they may do something, Jeane will open a Rune shop, Mace will open up a Blacksmiths, Maria will open up a inn and Gasper will open up a dice game.

Aside from all the recruiting and storyline you must cover, there is random battles. You can have up to six characters in your party at any time, one of them has to be the Hero. Any playable character can fill in the other five slots and help you fight. Each character has strenghs and weakness', as well as weapons and magic. The battles tend to go by quick, and the enemies give a lot of expirence points to level up characters.

There is two more things about Gameplay standards : Wars. A War takes place several times during the course of the game, Your army keeps growing. The army mode is a combination of Paper Rock and Scissors and RPG elements. Attack, Magic and Bow and Arrow attacks all have advantages and disadvantages between them, You will need to think long and hard about a few attacks.

The other thing is Duel fights. You also go in to a paper rock and scissors fight, but this is a One on One with the hero and somebody else. You have the following moves : Attack, Defend and Desperate attack. Attack beats defend but loses to Desperate attack, Defend is useful against desperate attacks but not Attack, and Desperate Attack, the most powerful is good against Attack, but useless against Defending.

The graphics of Suikoden are quite good, I would say it is above standard of that of the Super Nintendo, As the game looks a big update of Final Fantasy VI, of course with better graphics. The music is very war like and adds a real lot of atmosphere in to the game.

All Role Play fans have to own this game, as it is a brilliant game for the Playstation.

Good

- Brilliant story, music and Gameplay
- A Cross between RPG and war games
- Not complex
- A lot of fun
- Huge
- Addictive

Bad

- Some of the events will shock you so much you will wish you didn't eat that pop corn during the last boss fight.

Summary

Graphics - 7/10
Music - 10/10
Sound - 10/10
Story - 10/10
Gameplay - 10/10
Challenge - 8/10
Lifespan - 10/10
Overall - 10/10

Alternatives : Breath of Fire III, Suikoden II, FInal Fantasy games.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/10/01, Updated 11/10/01