Suikoden Series

By IcyRose. 13/06/08, 04:43 am

"You like Suikoden, right?" - Psycho Mantis from MGS if you have a Suikoden save file on your memory card.

Anyways, I've noticed some people on this forum have played the Suikoden series, or that the very least are familiar with the 2nd and 3rd game. So I figured I should make a discussion topic, because Suikoden is awesome. For those who are unaware of this series, I'd say shame on you, but the fact is this JRPG series is somewhat obscure and it wasn't until the 4th game of the series until it actually started getting released here regularly, to my knowledge only Suikoden 2, 4, Tactics and 5 were released in NZ.

In any case, the Suikoden games are all set in the same world but in different moments of history and in different parts of the world, in each game you're given control of the Nameless Silent Protagonist of the game (whom is then later named in the game's novels, and for reference the heroes are Tir McDohl in Suikoden, Riou Genkaku in Suikoden 2, Lazlo Vingerhut in Suikoden 4 and Frejadour Falenas in Suikoden 5, Suikoden 3 is the exception where all the cast are named and the heroes of the game are actual characters and not silent protagonists) and you get involved in a civil war or rebellion that occurs within your nation (Scarlet Moon Empire/Toran Republic in Suikoden 1, City-State of Jowston in Suikoden 2, The Grasslands in Suikoden 3, The Island Nations in Suikoden 4 and the Queendom of Falena in Suikoden 5) You end up as the head of the rebellion army or your nation's army and then round up the 108 Stars of Destiny (the other main characters of that game) in order to bring victory.

The first game was loosely based around the Chinese story of the Outlaws of the Marsh aka The Water Margin, which is where the 108 Stars of Destiny comes from. Every subsequent game has taken on the 108 Stars concept and moved it to various parts of the world at different points in the world's history.

Personally, my favourite was the 2nd game which covered the war between the City-State of Jowston and the Highlands. It had the coolest cast overall, the coolest strategist (Shu is awesome, and so far the only other one I've found to live up to his standards was Lucretia Merces in Suikoden 5, surprisingly it's the strategists that WEREN'T of the Silverberg blood that I liked overall, not that I never liked the Silverbergs, they are awesome) and by far the most awesome villain in the form of Luca Blight, the most evil man to curse the world of JRPGs and quite possibly one of the more frustrating boss fights as well.

And on a side note, I really want to cosplay Albert Silverberg at some point in life, his coat is made up of win.

By Freyasoul. 13/06/08, 05:58 am

You know... I've always seen suikoden but for some reason just looked past them. I never really thought that it would be worth playing (well i do have the japanese of the first or second one and have played it a fair bit but that hardly counts because it wasnt for years and years until i realized thats what it was) but now due to that explanation of it i actually might give playing them a shot.

Thank ya for this n_n

By bekah. 13/06/08, 02:40 pm

*seizures*
i. love. suikoden.
suikoden 2 is amazing, and does anyone know where i can purchaaaase it? @w@

By Freyasoul. 13/06/08, 02:45 pm

ebay perhaps?

By bekah. 13/06/08, 03:15 pm

yeah, it's expensive as a mofo coz it was pretty much limited release for some reason, i forget why ><

By Freyasoul. 13/06/08, 03:52 pm

umm... tell ya what, i'll look around some websites and tell you what i can find. n_n

By Nazgul. 13/06/08, 04:08 pm

SUIKODEN III FTW

....only because that's the only one I've actually played myself =.=

but i used to love Jacques....still do actually =p and Caesar, Albert, Nash.....hm there are many.

I've always got a soft-spot for the Suikoden series because of their inter-linking universe and the fact that they're from Konami! and also because the game and manga was the one that got me into drawing ^^

By IcyRose. 13/06/08, 04:50 pm

Our video store had a copy of Suikoden 2, then a friend of mine bought it. He also owns a copy of Suikoden 3 which he got on TradeMe hoping it was the real thing (bloody lack of a PAL release), but instead got disappointed the moment he saw how obvious it was actually a copy, although it still worked fine so that was all that really mattered. I own Suikoden 5 and hired out Suikoden 4 until I beat it (short game as well and is the weakest of the series) For Suikoden 1 we had a friend in high school who had imported and copied it for anyone who wanted to play it.

I ended up playing the Suikodens in the order of 2, 1, 3, 4 and 5. I rate them in order of 2, 3, 1 & 5, 4

I love some of the nice trends you'll note in the series as well.

Just to name a few:

- Jeane and Viki are in EVERY game, for Viki it's explained, for Jeane she is still forever one of the biggest mysteries of the Suikoden universe
- There are always a pair of bishounen knights (Alan and Grenseal, Camus and Miklotov, Boris and Percival, Sigurd and Hervey, Roog (ok maybe not him) and Rahal)
- With the exception of Lucretia Merces, your strategist is always a a member of the Silverberg family or is related to them in someway.

By bekah. 14/06/08, 07:44 am

Yeah, my vid shop USED to have suikoden 2, then it randomly wasn't there one day >< before i had beaten it... ;o;

By Nazgul. 14/06/08, 03:07 pm

hm... I want to know more about Mike too, although he only appeared in Suikoden III I think. if you remember him

By IcyRose. 15/06/08, 06:32 am

Ah yes Mike, one of the other mysterious figures of the Suikoden world and he's only been in one freaking game. He was in Suikoden 3, acted shifty you couldn't really dig much dirt on him from Kid's investigations and according to the 108 Stars Ending he took off after the war with a bunch of cloaked strangers.

Also he lies to you about his identity when you're playing Luc mode. The only other characters that filled with that much mystery are Jeane, Pesmerga and Yuber.

On another note, Yuber in Suikoden 3 has so much more style than his appearances in Suikodens 1 and 2.

By Nazgul. 15/06/08, 06:43 am

omg yes i agree, yuber's clothes are so much cooler in suiko III, my graphics fashion design assigment had a lot of influences from him X3 the special clothes that Leon from Resident Evil 4 wore also reminded me of Yuber.

By IcyRose. 15/06/08, 09:18 am

Well the bowler hat is an awesome hat, pretty much anyone can look stylish with it.

By Pseudonym. 20/06/08, 04:58 pm

This is a series of games I've always wanted to pick up and try, but I just don't have time/have other games I already own that I want to play/ haven't finished yet.

Regarding old games that don't seem to exist/are next to impossible to get physically anymore, I actually invested in a pc/ps2 usb controller, so that I can play older games like that on my computer. (If I get time)

**Guest** Guest

The Suikoden series has like...A special place in my heart. XD XD
Suikoden I was the very first RPG I ever played, and I was all of 7 when I played it for the first time. I own all of them except 4.
My favourites are 2 and 5. Though I think I prefer 5, it may just be beacuse I've played it for the first time recently and am fazspazzing about it in all it's glory. I love the character art and costume design in the 5th one especially. *goes on a fanart spree*

Overall favourite characters would have to be . . . Shu, Viki, and Sagiri. Sagiri is such a minor character, nobody will probably know who I'm talking about anyway. XD

And just as a side-note -- is it just me, or does the "hero" become more and more effeminate with each sequel? XD I mean, Prince from Suiko5 is so amazingly...man-pretty.

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