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[Brandon F]

I've played em all(sans IV), though I never felt much of a passion for the series and wouldn't be considered a true "fan" despite.

Suikoden 2 particularly was marvelously paced and scripted for an atypical JRPG, there is an undeniably warm feeling about importing Suiko 1 data into the game as well. I always adore the 'collect em all' subquest, in fact I pretty much make certain to get all 108 heroes on my first playthrough(faq-in hand), but everything else is pure dullsville.

The dungeons and combat has never been good(saving grace is that you can mash through them so fast that you rarely have to think about how dull it is!), and the the minigame duels/scale warfare stuff is more of a nuisance to deal with than an invigorating slice 'o gameplay. The thought is wonderful, but execution is never fun.

Props to Suikoden 3 for having one amazing introductory movie though, never realized the director left so soon from the project either! I really dug the opening chapters of S3, but the story really did turn sour once the socio/political scandals transformed into a lamebrain hunt for crystals...err true runes.

The high sea adventure of S4 seems neat, but I'd probably be better off playing pirates...or Grandia Xtreme if it wasn't so impossible to find!

 

[MrDaravon]

I liked Thomas as a character, but God his chapters annoyed me.

As much as I usually agree with Bebpo and Shouta, I've got to disagree with them as well on this one. S3's got far better fleshed out characters. Arguably not a overall as good cast as Suikoden 4, but I wound up liking the people in 3 a lot more because there's more depth there. In S3, a lot of people join you for no reason or WTF reasons, but they're interesting characters, where in S4 there aren't as many who join you for BS or no reasons, but they're so boring you don't give a fuck.

I can't believe the day has come where I'm DEFENDING Suikoden 3 =p. Despite 4 being horribly boring and mediocre plot wise (at BEST), I still enjoyed it to some extent (I'd give it like a 7/7.5), but it doesn't really do anything 3 doesn't do, EXCEPT fix the battle system that 3 broke.

 

[Bebpo]

I liked III's battle system more than I and II's. Yeah it limits you but it also gives you some nice strategy (especially the Geddoe chapters). This was unheard of before SIII in this series. If anything, SIV was a step back in terms of battle system.

It was a "a step back" to the Suikoden I/II battle system because 99% of the people who played Suikoden III absolutely hated the battle system and thought it was total junk lacking in strategy or fun.

And I've read a little of the Suikoden III manga. It's good and tells a more fleshed out logical version of the main plot. But that doesn't make the game any better. The story-telling in the game was pretty awful as you had to basically replay the same 10 hour story three times. I mentioned this in my S4 review, but despite how Suikoden 1/4 are super short 20 hour or less rpgs, Suikdoen III is also basically a 20 hour rpg that is given 20 hours of repetive filler in order to make the game seem longer. I think its pretty sad that the game spends 30 hours just building up to the story start...and then the entire story is rushed in at under 10 hours.

And Geddoe being a great character? Chris? I really can't say as I don't even remember them. I remember Nash, Luc, Yuber; but that's because they'd already been introduced and developed in the previous games. Seriously, Suikoden III might've had good intentions and maybe it really did have good characters, but a combination of horribly graphics (5-15fps ugh), terrible lack of music, weak battle system, lack of real dungeons, repetition of the plot, and a terrible endgame all added up to an experience that I've tried to forget as much as I'm able to. There are very few rpgs that are bigger disappointments than Xenosaga ep2 in my book but Suikoden III is one of them.

 

[Vargas]

At least Suikoden 3 had that nice intro.

 

[Bebpo]

That's true. But the game goes downhill once you press start ;_;

 

[Pellham]

Well I actually enjoyed Suikoden III but I don't consider it a stellar game or anything. Heh, I guess the only time I really hate a game is when its gameplay is flat out awful (like something like Shadow Madness).

 

[Shouta]

Chris was a weak character? Get real now. And Geddoe, imo, is one of the best Suikoden characters yet, he is really quiet but at the same time he doesn't come off as assholish a la Squall or Cloud, but everytime he speaks he says something very wise. I would say along with Auron from FFX, Geddoe is one of the most mature, wise, and naturally likeable characters in rpg history. And what about Thomas? I, personally, loved the Thomas chapters..if only for Cecille because I thought she was adorable.

I didn't like any of the main characters from S3. While the concept for each of them is appealing at first they honestly just didn't have an impact on me by the end of the game. Geddoe has the quiet wisened leader thing going on but there really isn't any reasoning for him to be so. Also, he stays so static in terms of personality throughout the game so all you get is this hard-shelled man who's stoicly facing the destiny he has. Sure, it's the opposite of what we usually get in terms of characters but it's ultimately so one dimensional. It's the same for Chris who has a flagrantly flimsy story and development by the end of the game. What was the true purpose of her ordeal? What did she honestly learn? How is she different? I look at those questions and think back to the game and I can't come up with a clear purpose or reason for it all. This wouldn't be such an issue if it weren't for the obvious attempts to try and give these characters meaningful development. If they hadn't tried to do the whole character development spiel, I wouldn't give it a second thought but they did and failed so terribly.

Of course, this has to a lot to do with the terible Trinity Sight system which ultimately didn't do anything to help the story. There was no clear purpose to having each character in a separate gameplay section, each section didn't have a clear perspective on the events, the sections for each character didn't really reflect the story behind the character, and etc. In concept, the Trinity Sight system is great. Being able to see the story from three perspectives would be fantastic. However, the game just doesn't do that. You get a retreading of the story multiple times and it shows just how weak the story is overall.

I'll give you Thomas, he's kind of neat to see but I dreaded playing his chapters most of the time.

 

[Ferrio]

They really need to do a game about the Flame Champion.

 

[Altermo]

http://www.konami.jp/gs/game/rhapsodia/index.html

 

[Bebpo]

Wow, upclose the 3d models look really bad. It's like FE GC quality but zoomed in twice as deep ^^;

 

[Pellham]

They're not necessarily bad, they're just 3-4 year old quality. I mean they look no different than Suikoden 3 models.

 

[Soul4ger]

Haven't you ever wondered why characters in SRPGs never just... Kicked the wooden planks leading up to the rooftops DOWN? They'd be much safer that way.

 

[jarrod]

Ack! Looks like Suikoden 64. :/

 

[djtiesto]

Why can't Konami give us a 2D, hi-res true Suikoden game instead?

 

[Error]

Seems to me that they don't know what to do with the story after Suikoden III and are expanding upon the universe they created in Suikoden IV which is totally lame.