Suikoden V

The first 2 games are still a couple of my favorite entries in the entire RPG genre, I think I've played through II about a half dozen times over the years. I was one of the few people who really enjoyed III and I absolutely loved the Manga retelling of the story. I never got more than 5 hours into IV and I've always wanted to go back and give it a fair shot. I've owned V for a while now but I'd always put off playing it because I never finished IV. From all the hate IV has gotten I'm not even sure if it's worth going back to now. And from what I've heard Tactics is a mess with a story that doesn't make much sense if you haven't played through IV.

I thought one kinda sucked, but it had alot of promise(that they capped on in 2). 2 was amazing, probably the best psx rpg. Three was allright, but couldn't compare with 2. I heard the fifth one tries alot to be like 2.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rezo

I think it's best to just not worry about getting everything on your first play through.

---

That may work for you, but I generally don't want to have to play through an 80+ hour RPG twice just to get a couple of characters that I missed. I also don't agree with games punishing you for not finding a character right when they want you to, with no real clues to lead you to that character, only to have him snub you for the rest of the game because you didn't catch on to *nothing*. That's just bad game design, in my opinion.

Some of them, you literally HAVE to already know from reading something in order to get them, or you have to grind back through every area and search every nook and cranny after every cutscene.

Quote:

---

For all games in general, really.

---

I don't agree with that. I wouldn't even say half.

Quote:

---

Some characters are really hard to get(Leon in part 1 in particular) but collecting characters is part of the game, they shouldn't have to set it up so that you can find everyone on your first try.

---

Aside from Suiko 2, where you had to choose between Kasumi and what's her face, I don't think Suikoden ever required you to play through the game more than once in order to get everyone. And I don't agree that a massive RPG should set it to where you can't get everything on your first playthrough. I respect that you feel that way, but I simply disagree.

That said, I love the Suikoden games and I've played 1,2 and 3 to completion, and I would have done the same with 5 if I hadn't been discouraged by missing a cool character.

Point of fact, Suikoden 5 was the first to bring back and make the castle system interesting again. That, I feel, was one of the things that was missing in the series since Suiko 2. But, the omission of an Iron Chef rip off returning to Suiko 5 was a major disappointment.

Definitely the second best in the series after 2. I absolutely loved the game. Yeah, its slow in the beginning, but the story payoff hits you that much harder later on.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Do You Like Erotic?

That may work for you, but I generally don't want to have to play through an 80+ hour RPG twice just to get a couple of characters that I missed.

---

I should clarify that I usually don't play games I didn't 100% more than once. If after the 80+ hour adventure I don't feel like running through it again to find some more stuff, it's ok because I got 80+ hours of entertainment from it. If I actually like the game enough to play it again, then I'm just glad there will be more stuff to look for.

I don't expect everyone to play games this way, but I always see comments by people who talk about not being able to enjoy a game because they have to find everything and you mentioned that you stopped playing because you realized you wouldn't be able to get some characters; I think people like that could benefit from not worrying about seeing everything so much.

Easier said than done.

Suikoden 3 is actually my favorite in the series. I couldn't get into Suikoden 4, and I honestly thought it was a horrible game. Suikoden 5 was just a case of "too little, too late" for me. After the completely mediocre Suikoden 4 Konami really needed to come back with a game that would blow me away in every department, and instead I just couldn't sit through another bland looking and slow paced chapter in this series.

Sweet, a Suikoden thread! I'm a huge Suikoden nut (avatar taken from Suikoden II).

Suikoden V is a pretty good game and it is a toss up between III and V for "third" best in the series. I hope Konami doesn't stop because it is nice to see an rpg series that actually has ties between each game and has returning characters.

I totally agree that Suikoden II was the best PSX rpg. It didn't have as crazy a plot as Xenogears, but it definitely held its own in that category and was a heck of a lot more fun to play.

I'm also glad to see so much Suikoden III love in this thread. It seemed to go through a period where it got a lot of backlash for what people felt was backtracking. But I really did enjoy that game, and put about 80+ hours into it. There was just so much to do.

V is the same thing, you spend half your time doing things that have nothing to do with the main story, and you've always got a laundry list of 5 places you want to go and 8 people to talk to. I'm still going through it on new game+, but I want to give it a little more time so it feels a little fresher on my second play through. I also have to hold back from using Zerase & that other powerful wizard since they demolish just about everything in the game within a couple of turns :lol: