Suikoden IV

[Reno]

Just beat this game. Of the ones I've played, (1, 3, and now 4), I think this is the weakest. I've not played 2 or 5, so I don't know how it stacks up to those. Despite that, it's really not a bad game.

You wouldn't know it from the beginning, though. For the first couple hours of the game, it's REALLY boring. They could have done a lot better job with the early part of the game, or at least given you some more interesting characters near the beginning. Contrast this to Geddoe's group in Suikoden 3, whom I found to be really interesting and entertaining characters right off the bat.

Eventually, it does get better though... but it doesn't really get good until you can finally start recruiting people. Overall, the cast isn't as good as previous games, and due to this game's shorter length and lack of character development, many of the characters have little in the way of personality. But there are still enough interesting characters to keep you occupied... and you don't need quite as many since they dropped the party size from six to four.

I mentioned lack of character development above... that's really a trait of the Suikoden series as a whole (comes from having so friggin many characters), but it's a little worse in this game due to the story being shorter. You also don't understand the main villain's motivations until the very end of the game (as in, immediately before you fight the boss), and Konami's decision to go back to a "silent hero" like the first game doesn't really help either.

Now, on to the good parts. Even though this is a prequel, there are three characters from other Suikoden games. Two of them should come as no surprise to anybody who's played more than one of the games, but I won't name names anyway. The third was a bit of a surprise (to me, at least), but a very welcome one at that.

Graphically, the game is both an improvement and a giant step back. While the graphics may be a bit crisper, the environments are very bland, and a lot of the character models as well. The spell animations are also a huge disappointment; early PS1 RPGs had more exciting magic.

Gameplay has a few nice features, but several disappointments as well. As I mentioned before, they cut the party size down to four. On the flipside, you can have three parties of four at once, though your other two parties can only be used while traveling on the world map.

The skills system from Suikoden 3 is also lamentably gone, removing a lot of the variety between characters. But there are 21 armor sets (a helmet, armor, glove/shield/bracer, and shoes/boots) hat, when used together, grant you some additional bonus beyond their own stat adjustments. There were four of these in Suikoden 3 as well, but the idea has been taken a little farther in this game. And the lack of free-roaming on the world map from Suikoden 3 has thankfully been gotten rid of.

All in all, it's worth playing if you're a fan of the series, though I doubt it's a game I'll feel the desire to play again anytime soon. There is a new game + feature, but apparently some things don't carry over (the equipment and runes you use in your final party, any of the three unique armor sets, as well as levels). Also, gamefaqs says you can use somebody else in place of your main character, but I can't figure out how, unless they don't mean right from the beginning of the game.

[black heart]

hm, i've never played the Suikoden series, but i heard good things from everybody, maybe i'll look into it in the future.

[Reno]

I think you'd enjoy Suikoden 3. I dunno how you are about older RPGs, like SNES to early PS1 era, so I don't know what to say about Suikoden 1.


Oh, a couple things I forgot to mention about Suikoden 4:

1. you have to save often, especially early to mid-game. There are a few times where you actually find monsters inside of treasure chests. Worse yet, they're WAY too strong for you at that time -- you have to come back almost at the end of the game to beat them. It really sucks when you run into them completely by surprise, and if you haven't saved in awhile you might end up having to do an hour or two's worth of stuff over again. NOT FUN.

2. Also, there are two points in the game where, if you choose the wrong response three times, the game actually ends right then and there. It's kinda funny if you go into it on purpose, but you don't want to walk into it without having saved first, and get stuck repeating stuff. So... save often!

[exiled]

From what I read Suikoden Tatics picks up after this game and expands character personality.

[Reno]

The game sorely needs it. I understand that Tactics starts some time before this game takes place, and actually continues past it as well. It's supposed to explain a lot of things that were either not made clear in this game or deliberately left a mystery. Shoddy storytelling, in my opinion, when you have to make a second game in order to explain things that the first game should've explained, but I would still like to play Suikoden Tactics someday if I can find it.

[exiled]

Its not hard or expensive to come across. I'm more interested in Suikoden V its supposed to be more like the first game.

[Arkhon Arkhozh]

I once saw it for only $10 at Circuit City.

[Reno]

Many of the changes in Suikoden 4 were intended to make it more like the first game. And in some ways they succeeded. Despite my not liking the graphics, they do feel more like a 3D version of Suikoden 1 than they do Suikoden 3. And you can play the dice game from Suikoden 1, though you make far less money at it. You can attach rune pieces to your weapon again, and your main character is more like McDohl than Hugo, Chris or Geddoe.

There are a couple spoilers I'd love to drop here, because I think they would raise some people's interest in the game, but I'm REALLY trying not to ruin any potential surprises.