Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
Hrm. I liked Suikoden IV, especially when coupled with Tactics. It has some interesting lore. Honestly, those who played Suikoden IV without playing Tactics after kind of lost out on a lot of narrative/geographic elements. LOL, it's probably because I played The Wind Waker prior to playing GS4 and I was so used to sailing around after a while. Plus the soundtracks for both games are awesome, especially coming off of GS3's.I enjoyed it too. I think it's just that a lot of Suikoden fans just really wanted a continuation from 2. As great as that would be, it won't happen now. I see Suikoden more as a Final Fantasy type thing now where there are some common elements and themes but the games are not really connected. That lets me enjoy them as just "standalone" RPGs.
Except 4. It has some stuff I liked but I didn't enjoy 4 overall.
Suikoden isn't what it used to be but I'm just glad that it still exists and still has enjoyable games in the franchise.
Edit: Tierkreis is a good RPG in its own right, with a solid soundtrack and solid gameplay. It just didn't feel very compelling for me, and it took me three restarts just to get through it. Plus there was that whole PR Interview thing, which left somewhat of a bad taste in my mouth.
I don't think I'll ever want Genso Suikoden to be like Final Fantasy, nor would I come to terms with it. They built so much up with Genso Suikoden 1-5, Rhapsodia and the Suikogaiden games. Why throw that away? They had a competent team with Genso Suikoden V, so to throw all that work away... it just angers me. They had a setting in place to go for after Genso Suikoden III, so I was hoping that someone like Sakiyama (Genso Suikoden V staff) would be able to take up the reins after Murayama left.
If Genso Suikoden ever becomes like Final Fantasy with similar narrative trimmings and gameplay mechanisms, it will no longer be Genso Suikoden to me anymore. I'll keep playing the games, but it'll feel like I've lost something I've treasured since I was a kid, and also the gameplay mechanics, the large-scale battles, the narratives about war and social justice, etc. There wasn't really anything like Genso Suikoden, and I don't think there is anything like it now. It'll be a shame if this type of game is lost. :/
Maybe as a PSP remaster or downloadable title on PSN or something? *shrug*The characters look Suikoden ish, but not very "main cast" like though (IMO). I hope it will be released in English, but that seems to be a longshot.
At least this game seems to have Stars of Destiny rather than "Starbearers"!