Suikoden

"A refreshing game from Konami."

Suikoden is a landmark game for the Sony Playstation. While early efforts at creating a role playing game collection for the system resulted in sub-par games (paging Beyond the Beyond), this was the first excellent game in this genre released for the upstart 32-bit platform.

The game's background is gritty and realistic. Playing as the son of Teo McDohl, one of the five great Generals of the Scarlett Moon Empire, you must find your way in the world, fighting for what is right in matters ranging from training to be an official under the Empire's rule to warring to bring about your home country's downfall. You have no real prophecy to fulfill or great evil to rally the world against- you simply have to grow as a young man, assess the state of the world and take action against what you feel is wrong. This is an interesting and refreshing premise.

The graphics in Suikoden pale in comparison to Square art masterpieces like Final Fantasy 7, but they are clean functional. The characters are tall and lean, playing against the super-deformed heroes found in traditional RPGs. This works well with the more realistic premise of the game. Everything looks only a small step above what could be done on a late Super Nintendo game graphically, but the colors are vibrant (as seen in the deep red shirt the hero wears) and there are some nice touches that add flair to the game (such as when the doves fly away from your feet as you walk through the Capital City Gregminster). Also, whenever conversations are held in the game, the speaking person's dialogue box is bordered by a nicely detailed close-up of their face. The hero for example looks stern and helpful, while other people (like the ''Flower General'' Millich) have a high humor value.

The music in Suikoden is among the best that I have ever heard in a role playing game. Everything is recorded in red book audio, the same tactic used to power Castlevania: Symphony of the Night to near audial perfection. The individual tunes are strong: whenever a betrayal or unexpected plot twist is explained, the music takes on this creepy tone that sinks into your ears and sludges around there for a while. Other tracks, like the town music in Gregminster, is upbeat and cacophanous, replete with fifes, snares, and trumpets. It is regal and rushed, much like any incredibly large capital city music should be. The sound effects are limited but nice; there are parts in the game where you fight army-vs.army style and the little men you control make these munchkin shouts that fit very well. Nice attention was paid to detail in the sound department.

Suikoden moves very fast as a role playing game, and the control supports this pace quite well. You can only move in four directions, and although this is still a 2D game this is limiting. Given that most Playstation games always have offered at least eight-way motion this is disappointing. However, everything is easily accessible through traditional menu sufrfing. The only really awkward feature of the game is that characters may carry a limited number of items, and this leads you to spend much time switching equipment and items back and forth to ensure that everyone is properly prepared.

The gameplay is the strongest I have seen in a role-playing game in a long time. There are three main styles of play: party battling, in which you stealthily travel and battle enemies in a party of six; one-on-one duels, in which you as the hero must battle another major enemy in a rock-paper-scissors style of attacking and decision making; and army-vs.army battling, where you command your forces to attack in another rock-paper-scissors style of fighting a la Dragon Force for the Sega Saturn.

The party battling is fast and furious; as you fight the enemies you may fight, use an item, or cast magic. This magic is provided by attaching runes to yourself, and you may take a rune on and off in order to give a character the right type of magic at the right moment. This is a nice feature, but is not nearly as great as the auto battle command. If you are fighting ''chump'' enemies, each round simply choose auto battle, and your characters will quickly attack the enemies until they are defeated. This streamlines the whole fighting process, and since this gameplay style is the most heavily used, Suikoden moves quickly and never becomes boring.

The one-on-one and army battles are tough to describe without giving much away, but they are enjoying diversions that allow you to fight in uncommon ways. You must be a keen observer and tactician in order to emerge victorious from these confrontations, and this keeps you ''in'' to the game.

Add to all of this the character selecton of Suikoden, and you have a bona fide winner. As you travel, you can recruit up to 108 ''Stars'' (companions) if you can convince them to join your cause. In order to achieve this, you may have to simply talk to them, have a certain number of existing recruits, or complete tasks. Most of these characters lend their strengths and abilities to your causes, giving you endless variety in the parties you may choose to fight enemies or the attacks you may use in your army battles. This sheer variety and the fun factor of the ''gotta catch 'em all!'' attitude of recruiting an army is addictive and keeps the game moving still faster.

Suikoden moves at such a fast pace, however, that you will complete the game extremely quickly (averaging about 12-20 hours). This is the game's chief downfall- there is not enough of it here to last. The replay value gets a boost, however, as collecting all the recruits leads to a different ending. This makes you want to play it over at least once to hit all the points you may have missed.

The story itself is engrossing and excellent. The plot has the usual share of betrayals and other evil hijinks, but the realistic wartime settings hold it all together and give it some polish. After all, you run the risk as the hero of eventually fighting against the cause your father has devoted his life to. This heightens the drama and sense of danger that already pervades the game through its visuals and audio quality.

Overall, Suikoden may very well be the best of the role playing games on the Sony Playstation. It has well-done technical elements and the gameplay and deep story give it something that most of the games in this genre lack: enduring depth. Pick this one up.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/05/00, Updated 06/05/00