Suikoden (PlayStation) Review

Suikoden came from Konami, starting in 1996 on the PlayStation with the original, and it has had many re-releases since on numerous platforms, this latest being the PlayStation Classics release of the original Suikoden and Suikoden II, bringing the games to the PS3 and, for the first time in the West, also to the handheld arena of the Vita and PSP. The first game, Suikoden, is a turn-based JRPG that places the player as the son of a famous general who finds his loyalties torn between the empire his father serves and the liberation army of rebels fighting against it. The story is solid and worth not spoiling here.

Much like other games of its time, Suikoden does not handhold in any way. It expects people to pick things up by playing - no tutorials to introduce each aspect of the gameplay, then a chance to practice, or even explanations of fundamentals. This can be liberating as it trusts the player to be knowledgeable of JRPG concepts and gaming principles, which means no time is wasted explaining obvious things. The problem comes with things that really should be explained but are not. One of the worst offenders is the abilities; each has a fairly random name that give no hint towards what the ability could do and no explanation is given to what the ability does, neither in battle nor outside, and the only way to try and establish what each does is to actually use it.

Another strange issue is that there is no dash button. The player character trudges along in towns, dungeons, and on the world map, resulting in the pace feeling very slow at first, but there is a way to combat this that's never explained. Certain runes equipped to a party member allow them to run, enabling a dash button… again it's another instance of something that majorly impacts the gameplay simply not being explained.

JRPGs often have numerous recruitable companions, some mandatory and some not, so the ideal team can be built. Suikoden does this, too, but the pool of recruitable companions is…108. These are known as the Stars of Destiny and it's said that it is the lead character's fate to unite them all. This is the fundamental setup for all of the side-quests and other optional aspects of the game, travelling around the world recruiting each of the Stars. Some of the recruitments are as simple as finding the person and asking them to join, while others will require the recruitment of certain folk first and bring them along to the encourage them to come along, as well as the need to accomplish tasks, meet certain level requirements, and so on.

With 108 characters to recruit, there is a massive pool to choose from when it comes to forming a party. Some characters come with unique abilities and if certain characters are teamed together in a party they will have the option of combining to perform "Unite" attacks, which deal big damage but leave the characters stunned for the following turn.

The combat in the game does fall into the usual JRPG turn-based tropes - not ATB but all at once, yet there are some exceptions: the party is made of up to six characters, split into two rows of three. Each character has either a Short, Medium or Long type weapon. Short have to go in the front row, while medium and long can go in either, but long can attack the far row of the enemy. The usual JRPG equipment setups are slightly different, too, with there being plenty of accessories and armour pieces to equip but each character has a single weapon throughout the game, so the only way to grow this stronger is to "Sharpen" the weapon at a blacksmith.

Suikoden is quite easy, with few fights offering much of a challenge, and even boss battles and those moments where the team has been far away from a safe haven for some time. The need for grinding in new areas is really not needed, especially if the player has recruited some of the stronger characters available. The balance is drastically diverse, with some characters massively overpowered right from their initial recruitment.

Suikoden also has two extra modes of battle that are occasionally encountered - "Army Battles" and "Duels." Army Battles are turn-based where the armies face off, each side with army strength of a numeric value. Recruited characters count for abilities in these, warriors can charge, archers shoot arrows, mages cast spells and others have special abilities. This is a strange rock-paper-scissor-esque combat where magic beats charge, bow beats magic, and charge beats bow. Each attack will lessen each others' army strength, and the first to be reduced to zero loses. Nowhere is this explained, however, and worst of all, occasionally and randomly it starts channelling Fire Emblem and killing off characters permanently in these battles. Duels are also rock-paper-scissor affair battles that allow the player to attack, defend, or desperate attack. Each of these battle modes appear only a handful of times through the game, which is a pity because they are an interesting concept.

For JRPG newcomers, the game can be a little intimidating with so many aspects not user-friendly, some slow moments, and a lot to learn. Regardless, there's a real gem here and an entry to a series that is worth trying… if taking the time to learn how it all works.