Originally posted November 4th, 2018. Edited and re-posted here for archival purposes.
Recently, I took some time to finish up a few games I’ve started but never got around to completing. One of these was Suikoden, a game I’d never even touched until earlier this year. With JRPGs being my most enjoyed and most played genre, my friends found it a bit odd that I had never really spent much time with the Suikoden series. Surely, words flew upon the discovery that I have never played the PS1 JRPG darling Suikoden 2 either. Admittedly, I’ve dabbled a bit in Suikoden 3 when I borrowed it from a friend, though didn’t spend much time with it to formulate any notable opinions on the game – let alone the series. So, I sought to correct this and start from the beginning. Now that I’ve beaten the game some 25~ hours later, I wanted to share my thoughts on one of the JRPG gems (or more accurately, precursor to the JRPG gem that is the sequel).
Despite the game being almost 25 years old, Suikoden holds up quite well in the visuals department. Bright colors and fairly fluid animations give it an edge over other PS1 JRPGs that opted to go with a polygonal look. Lovingly crafted spritework help it stand out on the screen, and the backgrounds are both simple yet still striking with their own beauty. The character portraits are fantastic, adding a hint of emotion to every notable character despite being little more than a static image. You could almost get a feel for each characters personality by just looking at them. I was also quite surprised by how well the game looked on PS3 as a PSOne Classic, blown up on my 50in plasma. Typically PS1 games look less than stellar at such a size, yet a strong aesthetic can future-proof a game for decades to come. The world seemed vibrant, but I felt the game stood out the most visually in combat. Magic effects, spinning staffs, rapid stabs, punches and more paired well with the zooming and panning camera. It had a snap and intent that made everything feel just a bit more weighted and important, even if it was the most basic of physical attacks.
While battles looked nice and were quick, I didn’t find much strategy required save for a couple boss battles here and there. Early on, I made ample use of the Unite Skill (a skill where multiple characters do team attacks) and made sure to unleash powerful magic every chance I got. Yet as I grew stronger over the game, I relied less and less on magic and I’d wholly forgotten about Unite Skills. I eventually found a party that worked for me, with all the runes I’d wanted. Everyone had their role, but most people attacked physically. I can only assume I missed some powerful Unite combinations that I would have discovered had I diversified my party more. Strengthening my weapons and gear seemed to let me blow past most battles with a breeze, and I’d never found myself lacking the damage output to fell a boss. Physical attack runes being unlimited while magic was limited seemed a bit off-balance, and that could have been what pushed me away from a party with notable magic skills Thankfully, the game is decently balanced so there was never a need to grind. Additionally, I can’t say I found myself banging my head against any walls in particular.
The overarching story, however, was a little hit and miss for me. While it had some very notable scenes and moments (anything involving Odessa and what followed), it felt like the game didn’t give some events or character interactions enough room to breathe. From the very start, you’re thrown into this conflict with no real understanding or reason why you’re even fighting. Early on, you’re simply told the empire is bad. Before long, you’re fighting against them tooth and nail. You go along with what you’re told by everyone around you, and then you’re supposed to lead a liberation army consisting of rounded up rebels, vagrants, and highwaymen. Everyone seemed too quick to join you, and also too quick to accept your position of power. After all, you’re a kid and everyone threw their weight behind you to lead. I could see them looking upon you as a symbol of hope, however, and I suppose that’s the role you fill. Maybe they were just waiting for someone to rise up. It didn’t matter who it was, but what they stood for. Perhaps they saw the main character as a symbol of the future and threw all their hope behind him.
Throughout the game, you start to learn exactly why the empire is as ‘evil’ as they’re said to be, and some of their actions over the time you interact with them are indeed atrocious. Occasionally, they feel a bit rushed or simply occur because the ’empire is evil’. Though, I suppose with our own world’s current climate, maybe its not as easy to find the answers for despicable actions taken by people in power. You do piece together things later on about how characters may have partook in horrific actions against citizens, only to switch sides in some form of repentance. In some cases, it didn’t land with the impact it should have. Others held a hefty weight. Despite all that, many of the characters backstories and histories stood out to me more than anything regarding the generally faceless empire. Mathiu’s time as my strategist really helped to give him a reluctant personality. It showed that he was putting aside his own feelings for the greater good. Viktor was a staple in my party both for his strength and his belief in the cause since day one. Learning his story was interesting, thought it was a brief affair.
Some of my main party had little going on for them when I met them. Valeria was key to all of my battles, but I can’t for the life of me recall why she even joined me. Flik and Humphrey were often outclassed in battle capabilities, so I hadn’t used them much despite their time in the spotlight throughout the adventure. They were quickly replaced by characters like Lorelai and Kasumi who weren’t as notable in the narrative but certainly had their place. Alas, I can’t exactly expect the deepest emotional character growth for every single character when you’ve over a hundred who are willing to lay their swords next to your own. Some people will look at you and join, while others may have their own requirements before raising arms upon the empire. At one point, it felt like too many characters – some of which never saw a single battle in my party. Mercifully, many of them are non-combatants. They fill their roles within your castle and make it feel like an actual base of operations. The castle grows as you gain more recruits, and the introduction of particular facilities once a person is recruited does give you a sense of progress and accomplishment.
From the very first battle against the empire to the final showdown, I never really felt any emotion towards my end goal. Despite some of their actions, I took no real joy in cutting down the final boss. Granted, I also felt no regret either. It felt like a means to an end, an obstacle to be overcome in the name of peace. This entire region of the world seemed so densely packed with locations and people, I felt it was missing just a bit of world-building. While I got some history here and there about what the empire had done to certain towns, I wanted more depth and lore to each location than what I got. It’s not to say that what was there was bad by any means, it just left me more curious when I exited a town. Perhaps that’s a good thing. The character stories and town vignettes shined the most to me, and probably overshadowed the whole ‘evil empire’ thing. As a note, I’d also forgotten who Ted and Windy were until they showed up again.
Throughout my brief affair with the game, I only had a handful of complaints. Many of these can be attributed to the time since launch and the era it was released in, so I don’t hold them too harshly against the game. Item management was a pain, and having to shuffle equipment or medicine from one person to the next so they could equip a pair of shoes was fairly frustrating, but navigation of the castle took the crown of inconvenience. Having to go to different floors for different things was irritating enough, but being required to travel two screens to the next floor each time was also a bit of a headache. Removing that in-between floor would have done wonders, but I imagine there was a very valid technical reason for this. Regarding recruits, there is little to no direction about who you can recruit or what they need, and sometimes you may be stuck wondering who you need to find to fill in that missing spot on your tablet. Trying to recruit all 108 stars without a guide would have been maddening. Even with a guide, I missed two and I don’t know why. (I’m 99% sure I didn’t execute a particular person.)
Overall, I have mostly positive things to say about the game. Combat was serviceable, the duels were fun, and the army battles were amusing and inoffensive. While the story wasn’t as grand as I hoped, I enjoyed my time with it and am glad I was able to experience it. Everyone I know tells me the sequel is leaps and bounds ahead, so I’m eager to start that up as soon as possible. All I really know after all these years is that Luca Blight is a great villain. Thankfully I’ve never stumbled on the reason why, and I’m looking forward to finding this out myself. With Suikoden 1 seemingly being a lengthy prologue / Part One and setup to the sequel, I’m curious just how much has been improved upon.
The game did leave me with perhaps my favorite line I’ve encountered in a game: “All right, I’ll join you. But I won’t help you fight. I’ll stay by your side so I can watch you die.” The pure contempt from a couple sentences painted a particular character incredibly well. I’d wholly recommend Suikoden to anyone like myself who hadn’t given the series a look in these past twenty years, or even new fans to the genre. It’s a grand place to start, even if its not one of the juggernauts like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest. It’s a shame we’re not likely to get another entry in the Suikoden series, but before I lament the death of the franchise, I should probably cleave my way through it first.
