Suikoden II

"An Almost Perfect RPG"

Introduction

Suikoden II is the indirect sequel of Suikoden I and it is a part of the Suikoden series created by Konami. I say indirect sequel because Suikoden II has a totally different story compared to Suikoden I though share the same world and occurred in the latter timeline compared to the predecessor.

The Story

Suikoden II started by you controlling a Highland youth brigade soldier that you named at the beginning of the game. It was soon clear that they were under ambush by City-States of Jowston (or so it seems) during the night and you were to escape along with your best friend named Jowy. Not too long after that, it was revealed that it was only a plot by the Highland Prince named Luca Blight to have a reason to restart the war with City-States of Jowston that was put on hold after both nations signed the peace treaty. Then just like in the first Suikoden, you would have to fight against your own home country. I would not spoil the rest of the story. I will leave it up for you guys to find out. As usual in Suikoden series, please expect a plot twist to occur.

The Gameplay

Just like most RPG games, you control the character by using the D-pad while using the other buttons to bring up menu, talk to townspeople, cancel, and confirm. In Suikoden II, there are 3 types of battle, just like in the first Suikoden.

The first type of battle is the normal battle where you can have a party up to 6 people. It is a turn-based battle with the commands that include normal attack, defend, unite and to use a rune (magic). A unite is the way of Suikoden II saying the combo attack between 2 or more characters. Not every character has a unite attack with the other, and since unite attack tend to be strong, choosing a character might require more strategy than just flipping a coin.

The second type of battle is the major battle. Unlike in the first Suikoden that is basically a rock-paper-scissor, the major battle in Suikoden II is more like a strategy RPG battle. One unit can consist of 3 characters with their own unique abilities. Each unit has the stats of ATK and DEF though it does not guarantee anything (higher ATK than opponent's DEF doesn't mean 100% hit). You move the units on the map and would be able to attack the enemies' units once you've reached a certain distance to them (infantry and cavalry units must be side by side to the enemies to be able to attack them while magic and archer units could attack from a longer distance).

The third type of battle is the one on one duel. This battle has 3 commands that is like rock-paper-scissor with Desperate Attack defeating Attack, Attack defeating Defend, and Defend defeating Desperate Attack. You are meant to choose your action by predicting the opponent's move based on the things they said. Example: "I will kill you" might hint that the opponent is going to do a Desperate Attack. So you should choose to Defend instead.

The Graphics

For a 2D game, I rate Suikoden II's graphics to be excellent. The sprites are well done, the characters artwork are great, the in-town graphics of the buildings are well detailed, the rune animation is beautiful and short enough, and the battle animation is top notch as well.

The Sound

One of the strongest point of Suikoden II is the music. It really reflects the situation well. Sad song for sad moment, cheerful song for happy moment, enthusiastic song for battle moment. To me, it really enhanced the overall feeling when you play the game.

The Replay Value

With around 70 fighting characters, and some characters that you have to choose to recruit, there is at least one replay value to the game once you've finished Suikoden II. There are also 108 Stars of Destiny in total to recruit, numerous items like recipes, old books, antiques, and so on to collect, sidequest involving a certain character, and other fun things to do in the game that most likely you would miss during your first playthrough. So Suikoden II definitely has replay value.

Room for Improvement

There are 2 minor things that could be improved in this game. The first one is the errors that occurred in the game. Numerous glitches and mistranslations have been found in the game that would not really affect the gameplay but affect the overall enjoyment of playing the game.

The second one is the length of the game. For an epic RPG like Suikoden II, I was expecting the game to be longer than it was because the plot just screamed for more interaction and more conflict to occur. I felt that the storyline could have been a bit longer with more heated conflict between the two sides.

Overall Score

The Story: 10/10
The Gameplay: 10/10
The Graphics: 9.5/10
The Sound: 10/10
The Replay Value: 9/10
Overall Score (not average or total): 9/10 for the obvious errors

To Rent or To Buy

It is very rare these days to be able to find a cheap copy of Suikoden II. So if you do find a cheap copy of this game, definitely buy it. Otherwise, you might want to rent or borrow from a friend rather than paying $60 plus for a copy of Suikoden II

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/03/05