Support NeoGAF

[Bebpo]

I don't think so. I think the problem is with the people who set your expectations at "Chrono Trigger". Suikoden II is great, but it's not that great.

Disagree completely. Suikoden II is a far better game than Chrono Trigger and better than FFVI. Between the story, the battle system, the no loading, the sprites, the music, it's probably the best 2d jrpg ever made.

But it depends on if you want a fantasy political war story. It's not everyone's cup of tea.

 

[SiegfriedFM]

Suikoden II really is Game of Thrones the JRPG, with slightly less gore and sex.

 

[decoyplatypus]

The character development is sorely lacking (again–never played the original).
Recruiting is a pain in the ass.
The battle system is dull.
And really overall, the game is just boring.

Could you explain your problem with recruiting in more detail? Many characters don't require much more than a conversation or a little plot progression. You can also wait until you have a detective to help you.

I don't really understand your criticism of the character development. Jowy and Nanami are pretty well developed within the first two acts of the game. You'll get to know more about others as you proceed. But we're not talking about a Persona-like game where vast amounts of text and gameplay are dedicated to each party member. It's pretty standard stuff, although I happen to think Suikoden 2 has a larger-than-average number of appealing characters and does well with small, humanizing details (see Georg Prime, a fan favorite who has very few scenes in S2).

The battle system doesn't have the tactical edge of a BoF5 (or a straight-up tactics RPG), but it shares that distinction with pretty much every other jRPG. And Suikoden 2's combat is a good deal snappier than Chrono Trigger's or Final Fantasy's. If it's not terribly deep, it at least as the decency to be fast.

 

[Josh5890]

For me the best part about Suikoden 1 and 2 is the headquarters and being able to talk to scores of people. There were so many different personalities to collect and engage with.

 

[SMattera]

I played just about all the classically great JRPGs within a few years of eachother (FFVI, Chrono Trigger, FFIV, FVII, Xenogears etc) in the late 90s, early 00s. Suikoden II was the best by far. I don't think it's just rose-tinted nostalgia. (Side note: one game from this period that is criminally overlooked and I think comes close to besting Suikoden II is Lufia II).

If, by the time you leave Muse you aren't sucked in, then yeah, hang it up. There's a major plot twist at the end of the Muse section that really starts to build momentum in the game's political intrigue story. A dungeon and town later you get the castle and start building, and that's really the other 50% of what makes the game great.

The battle system isn't great, but which JRPG has a great battle system? Particularly from that era? Chrono Trigger, FFVI, FVII -- easy games you can roll through with next to no thought.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

This is a very holistic series and imminently playable now vs alot of gen 5 classics by being so fast in battle and having so little filler.

Just out of interest where are you in the game?

It's a slow start but it gets far better very quickly. As it was already stated it doesn't start to pick up until after the events at Muse and you head to South Window.

Suikoden V you need about 20 hours before things get interesting.


Suikoden 2 is my favourite game of all time, only Okami comes close to matching it. I did play FFVI and Chrono Trigger but they were meh by comparison.

Strange thats where V started to lose itself aping this games storybeats.

 

[Bitanator]

Play through it, the story gets good and the good ending is one of the most satisfying ones I experienced in a jrpg

 

[Cao Cao]

Just replayed it again and it was still good. I wonder why they can't even produce simple JRPGs like this anymore lol...
I forgot about this one battlefield music, it sounds so good 0:38-1:05

 

[SeraphJan]

Suikoden 2 is one of those game that suffer greatly from poor localization.

The game itself is god-tier

 

[YeulEmeralda]

You're right, it's the girl he's after that's a PITA to recruit.

Also, Suikoden 2 had my original waifu:

Eilie da best

I absolutely adore the art of Suikoden. Peak 90s.

And Suikoden hasn't aged IMO compared to early 3D games like FF7/8.

 

[BadBurger]

You're not alone OP. My best friend is a huge Suikoden fan and has tried to get me into the series for years, but I just couldn't. Gave it the ol' college try several times. And I am a huge JRPG fan.

 

[SeraphJan]

 

[Dirk Benedict]

Clyde's an easy recruit; it's his quest that's a pain in the aaaaaaaaassssssss.

Also yes, Suikoden 2 is a great game but after playing it again like...a month ago it has some pretty big flaws that I seemed to gloss over in my memory. I would say that Suikoden 3 and 5 are either on par or superior in a lot of ways to 2. Not like those two games don't have their own problems but I found there to be way more development of incidental and non-super plot relevant characters, with skits and interactions and the like. When you pick up a character in 2, if they're not relevant to the plot they may as well not exist as a character sometimes.

When Suikoden 2 is great it's fucking excellent but when it's bad it drags real bad.

One of my favorite aspects of the game was to collect the recipes, build out my "ranch" with farm animals and veggies and kick ass in the cooking competition after setting up an unbeatable menu.

 

[Captain Toad]

I played the first Suikoden back when it launched. I've yet to play any others. Hopefully, these games get added to PS+ Premium with trophy support.

 

[Northeastmonk]

The biggest thing is how well everything comes together and how it still retains that authentic JRPG feeling. It has a lot of fantasy and Far East folklore to it, but it isn't trying hard to go over the top with it. I miss those types of JRPGs and maybe it was the technology at the time. I really enjoyed the battles, especially the one in the west. The relationship between the main trio of characters is also good. I did a playthrough of Suikoden 2 on my Vita years ago. I would love to see it available on formats that are still supported. It was big deal when the PSN version came out. The other Suikoden I would like would be Suikoden V.

 

[saintjules]

I really liked Suikoden II, but I still enjoyed the first one more.

The first one's story captivated me with every turn. It was something truly special. There's some true magic in it's soundtrack that surpasses II's in some ways. I highly recommend people to play the first one if they haven't.

 

[SeraphJan]

Suikoden II really is Game of Thrones the JRPG, with slightly less gore and sex.

Its better than Game of Thrones, much more memorable character, and heart touching story. The only downside of the game is its terrible localization

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Amazing game. Started it during lock down in 2020 and was one of the best games I played that year. Played and beat the first one in 2016 so I had to get to it sooner or later. Scenario never has a dull moment.

 

[GymWolf]

One of the best game ever made.

 

[Dr Bass]

I really liked Suikoden II, but I still enjoyed the first one more.

The first one's story captivated me with every turn. It was something truly special. There's some true magic in it's soundtrack that surpasses II's in some ways. I highly recommend people to play the first one if they haven't.

I think you are a man/woman of great taste. The soundtrack in general is much better in 1 IMO. Better compositions, more unique arrangements, and much better sound quality. I think 2 has far more tracks which necessitated a drop in audio quality since it sounded like it went from a lot of recorded live instruments to a pure midi setup. And a lot of the themes ended up sounding hokey compared to the epic sound of the first.

And yes, the story was just more interesting overall I think. It's been 20 years since I played them of course, but I remember the conflict between the two main characters in 2 only becoming interesting towards the end. And I think there were multiple endings right? So things could go really sour for the characters if you didn't get all 108 stars and a few other things.

To truly appreciate 2 I think you need to play 1, but for me 1 is still the superior game and more unique vision. But 2 is still very good, and kinda needs to be played if you play 1 IMO. Especially since you can come across the hero again in 2 and there are a few returning characters.

Man what a pair of games. I don't know if they just aren't made like that anymore, or I am too old to have games make me feel that way again. I think it's a combo of both, because every once in awhile I do get that feeling recaptured, but man is it much more rare.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[Cao Cao]

Man what a pair of games. I don't know if they just aren't made like that anymore, or I am too old to have games make me feel that way again. I think it's a combo of both, because every once in awhile I do get that feeling recaptured, but man is it much more rare.

They probably don't make JRPG like this anymore because it does not sell to nowadays audience

 

[saintjules]

I think you are a man/woman of great taste. The soundtrack in general is much better in 1 IMO. Better compositions, more unique arrangements, and much better sound quality. I think 2 has far more tracks which necessitated a drop in audio quality since it sounded like it went from a lot of recorded live instruments to a pure midi setup. And a lot of the themes ended up sounding hokey compared to the epic sound of the first.

And yes, the story was just more interesting overall I think. It's been 20 years since I played them of course, but I remember the conflict between the two main characters in 2 only becoming interesting towards the end. And I think there were multiple endings right? So things could go really sour for the characters if you didn't get all 108 stars and a few other things.

To truly appreciate 2 I think you need to play 1, but for me 1 is still the superior game and more unique vision. But 2 is still very good, and kinda needs to be played if you play 1 IMO. Especially since you can come across the hero again in 2 and there are a few returning characters.

Man what a pair of games. I don't know if they just aren't made like that anymore, or I am too old to have games make me feel that way again. I think it's a combo of both, because every once in awhile I do get that feeling recaptured, but man is it much more rare.

I'm a dude, and yes I agree with what you're saying here. I'm surprised there's people playing II without the first one. Isn't it just as easily available now?

Sadly games like these aren't made anymore. It's usually the story of teams disbanding and moving onto other projects. They are the originators that make the initial games what they are and set the precedence for the rest (or at least they try to). It's hard to make a hit record.

I mentioned before on another thread of another topic. As a franchise gets deeper in its series, the worse they get. After 2 and 3, the series got lost imo. Same like Grandia. Same like Breath of Fire.

Some music







I'm a backer and I have large expectations for Eiyuden Chronicles. Hoping it captures what the early days of the Suikoden franchise that became a staple in the history of JRPGs.

 

[Kaachan]

In my opinion, the reason Suikoden II gets its high praise is because of how unique it was in contrast to many of the popular JPRGs because it focuses on political conflicts within regions and the human aspects of it rather than magical powers and stopping the ultimate bad demon guy. But it really depends on your idea of a good JRPG. If you're expecting the plot to lift off, it'll happen. You said you're 10 hours so in so you are probably close to an HQ and that's where everything really starts

 

[Hydroxy]

I have it downloaded on my Vita since almost a year, will eventually get around to playing it one of these days. I hope I like it as i have heard lot of praise about it

 

[Mr Hyde]

Love Suikoden 2. It got a great story, very emotional and gripping, with a great set of characters and more versatile combat system than its predecessor. However, I'm more fond of the first one but it's mostly due to nostalgia and that it was my very first jrpg. Konami sucks the big one for not re-releasing these masterpieces in a single collection.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

I mentioned before on another thread of another topic. As a franchise gets deeper in its series, the worse they get. After 2 and 3, the series got lost imo. Same like Grandia. Same like Breath of Fire.

Creator bounced after III so it makes sense it went off the rails. Breath of Fire IV is literally the best one though by far. lmao. Not that I've played Dragon Quarter yet but I will.

I have it downloaded on my Vita since almost a year, will eventually get around to playing it one of these days. I hope I like it as i have heard lot of praise about it

If you haven't played the first then do that first. It's good also. Trust me and its worth for the save data transfer.